Inspection Detail

Inspection: 303724322 - Ci Construction

Inspection Information - Office: Allentown Area Office

Investigation Summary

Two 8 inch concrete blocks were accidentally dislodged from a cube located adjacent to the south edge of the 4th level of residence hall and fell 32 feet causing minor injuries to an employee of Keenan Concrete, Inc. and fatally injuring a partner of CI Construction, on or about October 12, 2001. Ben Grezesczuki of RSK Construction was breaking down a cube of concrete block at the south edge on the 4th level for masons constructing a stairwell and fake elevator shaft. This south edge was used to deliver materials only - there was no masonry activities occurring along this wall, nor was any masonry activity planned for this area and therefore cannot be considered a leading edge. No guardrails/toeboards, nets, barriers, etc. of any nature had been erected along this edge to prevent materials from falling or protect personnel from falling. Nor was the area below barricaded to prevent employees from working in this area. Ben Grezesczuki was not using any sort of personal fall protection while performing this task. The cube had been boomed to the 4th level via forklift by Dave Crawford of RSK. The cube had been placed within 6 inches of the edge of the roof due to the limited reach of the forklift. The cube also partially extended over a stepped down (about 2 inches below the floor and 4 inches wide) lip that ran along the south edge of the 4th level. When Ben was removing block from the 3rd tier, a block from the 2nd tier (closest to the south edge) and the block directly beneath it on the 1st tier tumbled onto the stepped down lip and over the edge of the wall. A part of 1 block struck a glancing blow on Darryl Brandt of RSK, causing minor injuries. Another block struck David Porter, partner of CI Construction, on the head, fatally injuring him. It was determined during interviews that Mr. Porter had been wearing his hard hat at the time of the accident. David Porter and Bob Chioffi of CI Construction, and Ken Gibson and Darryl Brandt of Keenan Concrete had been building a scaffold at ground level to support a form for a cantilevered deck that was to be poured. Prior to the accident, Dave Crawford of RSK had repeatedly cleared these 4 employees out of the way while booming cubes of block to the 4th level. Ken Gibson of Keenan stated that they would then wait until they could see no more block to resume their activities. They did not establish any type of communication with Ben Grezesczuki to establish for certain when all block had been removed. At the time of the accident, the employees could see no more block from the cube that had been recently boomed and resumed work. From the angle they were observing (about 20 feet from vertical wall) it is apparent that they could not see the last 3 tier of block that remained. Rick Kostes, owner of RSK Construction had reminded Warfel earlier in the project that there were fall protection issues on site. Warfel responded by providing RSK with Contolled Access Zone training which did not completely address the fall protection issues on site. It is this CSHO's opinion that Rich Treadway, Safety Director for Warfel, does not completely understand fall protection requirements and their application and could not effectively direct RSK, Keenan, and his own superintendant as to how to handle fall protection issues on this site - this is the primary contributing factor to this accident.