UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: Employees #1, #2, and #4, all laborers, and Employee #3, an operating engineer, were working on a construction project when the coffee truck arrived at approximately 9:30 a.m. The approximately 25 site workers gathered in the vicinity of the coffee truck for a break. They congregated around the base of an approximately 60 ft long by 23 ft high concrete block wall. The first 10 vertical ft of the wall was composed of 8 in. by 8 in. concrete blocks, and the remainder was built of 12 in. by 8 in. by 16 in. blocks. No masonry work had been done on the block wall for approximately one week. The wall started to fall in, and there was a loud noise when the it struck and pushed over a metal tubular welded-frame scaffold that was standing adjacent to the wall. All the workers scrambled to safety except for Employees #1 through #3, who were trapped under the debris and killed. Employee #4 ran and fell to the ground just beyond the downed block wall, injuring his left knee and calf.