Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Construction worker, interrupting retirement, falls 30 feet to his death at Jordan, Minnesota job site




John Dickerman, working with a crew from a Mankato contractor, was installing trussing for a roof at a height of about 25 to 30 feet when he fell. 
 
Interrupting his retirement to pitch in, a 69-year-old building construction worker fell to his death at a job site in Jordan, authorities said Monday.
John A. Dickerman, of Mankato, Minn., fell Friday while helping build an expansion on an industrial equipment coating business, said Police Chief Brett Empey.

“He came back to help that [contractor] temporarily” with a job at Accu-rite Powder Coating and Surface Prep on 320 Ervin Industrial Drive, Empey said.

Dickerman was working with a crew from a Mankato contractor, R.L. Wells Construction. He was installing trussing for a roof at a height of roughly 25 to 30 feet when he fell about 11:15 a.m., Empey said.

Along with police, officials in Minnesota with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are also investing the incident.

OSHA fined R.L. Wells after an inspection in 2006 found that one of its employees was working at a height of 10 to 15 feet in the basket of an all-terrain forklift without wearing a safety harness.

A message was left with company owner Randy Wells seeking comment about Dickerman’s death and whether he was wearing a harness at the time.

Dickerman graduated from what is now Minnesota State University Mankato with majors in mathematics and industrial arts. He worked in general contracting construction for 35 years for WEB Contracting in Mankato. He was a part owner and a crew leader until about 10 years ago. WEB was not the contractor handling the work at Accu-rite.

WEB co-owner Jerry Williams said Dickerman would occasionally fill in on construction crews during his retirement.

Dickerman’s survivors include his wife of 41 years and five grown children.