FEBRUARY
13, 2015
SEATTLE,
WASHINGTON
The men were installing steel reinforcing bar for a
concrete wall when the wall somehow gave way, said a statement by Seattle
Tunnel Partners (STP), contractor for the 2-mile project.
One worker suffered a broken arm. The three others were
able to walk out of the tunnel for treatment of back and neck pain, said
Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore. A fifth worker who fell was not
hurt, authorities said.
The state Department of Labor & Industries
(L&I) is looking into the accident, while the Washington State Department
of Transportation (WSDOT) released a statement saying it was still gathering
information.
“Safety is STP’s and WSDOT’s number one priority,” it
said. “Right now, their field crews are focusing on making sure the site is
secured.” Standing outside the accident site Thursday, state spokeswoman Laura
Newborn declined to comment further.
Thursday’s incident happened near Sixth Avenue North
and Thomas Street, near the eventual north portal of the tunnel. Tunnel-boring
machine Bertha has been stuck at the opposite end, in Sodo near the Seattle
waterfront, for more than a year.
The contractors have touted a solid safety record, to
the point where L&I gave them a one-third discount on workers-comp
insurance. Last year, STP
reported 3¼ million hours
without a lost-time injury.
These kinds
of walls, where concrete is poured between forms into a rebar cage, are
commonly built in highway megaprojects by teams of union ironworkers. They
steadily insert and tie the rebar rods incrementally, making it odd that five
workers would suddenly be knocked off balance.
STP has a
policy of requiring harnesses or tethers.
Several
tunnel tasks are considered more hazardous, such as fixing a cutting head on
the boring machine under hyperbaric pressure, or removing temporary braces from
a suspended load or underground vault.
Two firefighters
went into the tunnel to carry the most severely injured man out, Moore said.
The worker
was placed in a rescue basket and carried nearly a half-mile to waiting medics,
said Moore.
The four
injured workers, from 23 to 36 years old, were taken to Harborview Medical
Center. The man with the broken arm was in serious but stable condition in
intensive care. The other three were to be released, hospital spokeswoman Susan
Gregg said late Thursday.
Seattle
Mayor Ed Murray, in Lake City at news conference about measures to improve
traffic safety around the city, said about the accident: “This is not an issue
about the tunnel. This is an issue of worker safety.”
Four
workers were injured this afternoon in an accident at the north end of the
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel project.
The
Seattle Fire Department responded to the scene, which is near where the tunnel
emerges from the ground at its north end—near the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and Aurora Avenue North. The Seattle
Times reports that the workers fell 25 feet when a wall in an elevator
shaft collapsed.
"Thinking
of the injured construction workers from today's tunnel accident. Thanks to
@SeattleFire for their quick response," Mayor Murray tweeted.
We'll
update as we hear more.
UPDATE:
KIRO's Libby Denkman reports that one of the workers has a broken arm.
ALWAYS REMEMBER:
WHEN AN EMPLOYEE IS KILLED
OR INJURED BY A PREVENTABLE WORKPLACE HAZARD, THIS IS NO ACCIDENT. IT MEANS THE EMPLOYER FAILED TO PROTECT
WORKERS FROM DANGERS THAT CAN CAUSE INJURY, ILLNESS OR, NEEDLESS DEATH