DENVER—The concrete company involved in this week’s partial roof collapse at a high-rise building was fined for a 2004 accident after a worker was injured in a 35-foot fall.
Concrete Express workers were pouring concrete for the roof of a building under construction in Greenwood Village when it collapsed onto the 12th and 13th floors on Thursday, injuring 13 workers.
Capt. Rob Hinsberg of South Metro Fire Rescue said crews were pouring cement on a plywood form supported by aluminum beams and posts when something apparently made those supports buckle.
The company was fined $9,600 in 2005 for a Nov. 30, 2004 incident when a tower crane operator raising a concrete form to a building’s fourth floor fell 35 feet, said Herb Gibson, director of the Denver office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The company, which paid $4,800 after reaching a settlement, was fined because the employee didn’t use the right safety equipment and wasn’t trained.
Company spokeswoman Michelle Berger declined comment Friday, saying she hadn’t had a chance to review those records.
OSHA is investigating the cause of Thursday’s accident.
“We and the general contractor are fully cooperating with the investigation and all the authorities,” Berger said.
Beck Development—a construction company from Dallas—is building the $140 million dollar building in Greenwood Village. A search of OSHA records didn’t show any violations by Beck.
Both Beck and Concrete Express passed an OSHA inspection in April, said Steve Yellstrom, acting director of OSHA’s Englewood office.
Work on the building, which will include residential and retail units, had been delayed because of bad weather and other problems and on May 30 city officials sent a memo to the mayor and city council asking for a six-month extension on construction deadlines for public infrastructure improvements as well as deadlines for building permit fee waivers.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
