Every year, thousands of people are injured in construction accidents. Despite strict safety regulations, Columbus workers routinely suffer severe or fatal injuries in preventable accidents.
One university is currently facing charges of $14,000 after a construction accident left a worker dead. Although fines are typically awarded with the intention of punishing a company for their negligence, the fines offer little condolence to the family of the man who died.
Earlier this year, a middle-aged man was killed when a steal beam fell on top of him. At the time of the accident, the construction crew was working in an excavated area that was near a pond.
When investigators looked into the situation further, they discovered that the construction site was riddled with safety violations. Although an individual on the construction team performed daily inspections, he or she was not aware of many of the dangers that filled the excavated work site and the surrounding area.
As a result, there were numerous places where sections of the worksite could cave in. The shield systems and other protective systems that are designed to prevent such catastrophes had not been approved by a registered professional engineer. Finally, other support systems left employees exposed to hazards of being crushed or struck by construction materials.
Sadly, the fatal accident was not the first of its kind for the university. A few months prior, another man was killed when he fell from more than 20 feet onto a concrete slab. If the families of either man file a wrongful death lawsuit, they may be entitled to compensation for the lost wages, end-of-life expenses and other financial or emotional losses.
Source: KCRG, “Company Fined $14000 in January Fatality on UI Campus,” Diane Heldt, 6 June 2011