Dive Brief:
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One Clark Construction worker was killed and four others were injured after a rebar wall frame collapsed on a project site for the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, California, reported NBC 7.
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The deceased worker has been identified as Sergio Cruz. Two other workers were hospitalized with serious injuries. NBC 7 reported that the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) and Clark Construction have opened investigations into the accident.
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Clark broke ground on the $490 million North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood in June 2018. The project is scheduled for completion in 2020.
Dive Insight:
Large contractors like Clark typically have safety policies and procedures in place to protect against accidents. On the Clark website, a general company statement says that Clark is "committed to safety above all else." The federal OSHA database indicates that Clark has had several OSHA inspections in the last few years but none at the Torrey Pines project.
On-site fatalities are a stark reminder that despite safety procedures, the construction industry is a dangerous one and tragic accidents like this one happen.
Falls are one of the most common ways workers die on construction sites. Earlier this month, an equipment operator on an Amazon warehouse jobsite in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, died when he fell more than 30 feet after he reportedly drove a piece of equipment out an open window area.
And last week, a Chicago-area construction worker was pulling an insulation hose into a building when he fell two stories onto scaffolding below and died.
