Inspection Detail

Inspection: 100849181 - Platte River Steel Company, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Denver Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:40 p.m. on February 25, 1992, Employees #1 and #2, iron workers, were working on the steel erection of section 2a of the airport office building at the Denver International Airport construction site in Denver, CO. The two workers were connecting a steel beam to a steel column on the seventh level of the building. One worker was seated on the beam that was being connected to the column, while the other worker was standing at the base of the column, at the top of a sheer concrete wall. The base of the column was secured to the concrete wall by temporary welds to an embedded steel plate. When the crew had a problem connecting the beam to the structural steel column, a determination was made by the steel erecting crew to pull the top of the column 1 in. to the north to facilitate the connection. The pull was performed by tensioning a cable guy, using a come-along, by applying a fork at the column being connected, and by using a sleeper. While one employee was seated on the beam, the temporary welds at the column base fractured. The column collapsed, and Employees #1 and #2 fell to their death.

Keywords: COLUMN, CONCUSSION, BROKEN WELD, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, IRON WORKER, WORK RULES, STEEL CONNECTING, CONSTRUCTION, STEEL ERECTION