Window Washing Scaffold Collapse

"They were saying if you call OSHA you stand the chance of getting arrested or going to jail!"

Work to resume today at Hendrick as investigators continue to probe scaffold collapse (ABILENE, Texas): Work is expected to resume today at the site of Hendrick Medical Center’s Project 2010 construction project, where two workers were injured after scaffolding collapsed Monday afternoon. As work continues on the $86 million project after being suspended immediately after the collapse, investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration continue to look into the accident.

Witnesses said Monday the scaffold that collapsed appeared to reach the roofline of an adjacent building, about three stories up. One man, a glass subcontractor, was working on a swing stage — an aerial platform commonly used by window washers — when the collapse occurred. A second man, a framing contractor, was the only person working on the scaffold when it collapsed. He was freed from the rubble after about 90 minutes.

Joe Guillaume, a vice president with Hoar Construction, which is managing the site, said one of the injured workers has been released from Hendrick, while the second man remained in the hospital Tuesday afternoon with minor injuries. He did not identify the two employees. Guillaume said his company’s safety engineer and insurance company officials are working with the OSHA investigator. A structural engineer from OSHA is scheduled to arrive at the site Friday to lend his expertise to the investigation into how the scaffolding came crashing to the ground.

Guillaume said OSHA officials told him that the investigation is expected to continue at the site for at least a week. Elizabeth Todd, spokeswoman for OSHA, confirmed Tuesday that agency investigators were on the scene, but she said she wouldn’t release any information about the inquiry until the report becomes public record. She told the Reporter-News on Monday that such investigations typically can take as long as six months. Contrary to reports from some media outlets, Guillaume said Hoar employees have not been told not to report safety issues at the construction site to OSHA. That was a misunderstanding, he said.

After the scaffolding collapsed, Bill Myers, an electrical subcontractor working at the site, said he had attended a regular safety meeting Monday morning at which Joey Mathews, the Hoar project manager, indicated a worker had filed a complaint with OSHA. “He (Mathews) made it perfectly clear that OSHA did not need to be involved on this site. He said they run a very safe operation, and that you stand a good chance of going to jail for making a false report,” Myers said Monday afternoon. Myers said the nature of the alleged complaint was not disclosed at the meeting, and he could not say whether or not it was safety related. Todd confirmed Tuesday afternoon that OSHA had received a complaint but it was not related to scaffolding.

Guillaume said Hoar officials value safety and want to know of unsafe practices at any construction site. According to Hoar Construction’s website, “OSHA requires companies to maintain ‘recordable incident rates’ which measure the number of accidents in which a worker injured today cannot return to work tomorrow. The national average is 6.4 accidents for each 100 employees working 40-hour weeks for a full calendar year. Hoar’s rate of 2.33 is almost one third of the national average for the construction industry.” Duane Martin, Hendrick’s director of engineering services, said that he believes Hoar operates a safe construction site and that he only knows of minor accidents while the construction company has worked on Project 2010. Martin called it “a complex project,” saying he was pleased with how Hoar has worked without any problems until the scaffolding fell.

Workers KTXS spoke to said during a safety meeting the morning of the collapse HOAR supervisors urged them not to contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with their concerns but instead go straight to their supervisors. Shortly before Monday's scaffolding collapse, on-site construction workers tell KTXS they were told something that stood out, especially now that an accident happened. "The general contractor made a blanket statement not to call OSHA about anything," said Bill Myers an electrical subcontractor with Long Electric. OSHA is the federal agency that enforces safe working conditions. Workers at the Hendrick site said OSHA had been contacted when they felt they weren't getting adequate drinking water. "They were saying if you call OSHA you stand the chance of getting arrested or going to jail," said Myers, "For making a false report."