EXCESSIVE SPEED MIGHT HAVE BEEN FACTOR IN SINGLE TRUCK CRASH THAT KILLED 1 IN EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH, LOUISIANA. HE WAS NOT WEARING A SEAT BELT AND DIED AT THE SCENE.

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

BATON ROUGE, LA

A 40-year-old man was killed Sunday morning in East Baton Rouge Parish when his truck left the highway on Greenwell Springs Road near Zachary and landed flipped over in a ditch after striking both an embankment and a tree, according to Louisiana State Police.

Killed was Lawrence Clay Jr. of Baton Rouge, who was driving a 2003 Dodge Ram north on Greenwell Springs Road, also known as Louisiana 37, when the accident occurred. Police were dispatched around 7:45 a.m. to the scene near the intersection of Pride-Baywood Road.

State Police said in a statement that as Clay's truck approached a curve on the left, it ran off the highway to the right. After leaving the road, the truck entered a ditch and struck an embankment, then a tree. The Dodge came to rest upside-down in a ditch.

The statement says excessive speed might have been a factor in the crash. Clay was not wearing a seat belt. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Driver impairment is unknown, but a routine toxicology sample was taken for testing.

FATAL CRASH INVOLVING A TRUCK AND A SEMI TANKER TRAILER IN ASHBURN, GEORGIA CAUSES 2,400 GALLONS OF DIESEL OIL SPILL, 10 DEAD WILDLIFE ANIMALS

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

ASHBURN, GEORGIA (WISTV)

The Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association is assessing how many animals were impacted by Friday's fuel spill in Turner County.

The Environmental Protection Agency said more than 2,400 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled when a truck hit a semi near marker 88 on I-75.

Fifty-eight year old Gary Parker died in the crash. Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association said they found less than 10 dead wildlife animals as a result of the fuel spill.

" Usually when you have fuel spills or oil spills the first animals affected are birds and that was the case here and amphibians are also affected because they soak the oil in through their skin,” said Chet Powell, Director of Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association.

Powell said they plan to do a follow up near the crash site tomorrow. EPA officials said they hope to have the fuel cleaned up by tonight. Chet Powell with the Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association says his condolences go out to the Parker family. 

GREELEY, COLORADO FIREFIGHTERS RESCUE CONSTRUCTION WORKER AFTER 30-FOOT FALL

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

GREELEY, COLORADO

A team of firefighters in northern Colorado engineered a “technical rescue” after a construction worker survived a 30-foot fall earlier this week.

According to a report from the Denver Post, the worker fell around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning at a building jobsite in Greeley.

When firefighters responded to the scene they found the man in a difficult to access portion of the unfinished building.

Undeterred, the fire crew rigged up a crane of their own using ropes, a pulley and their truck’s ladder to extract the injured worker.

The rescue took more than an hour to complete. The worker’s identity and condition were not released.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, falls are the number one cause of death in construction industry accidents.

KOKOSING CEO ADMITS DEMOLITION PLAN WAS FLAWED IN DEADLY BRIDGE COLLAPSE

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

COLUMBUS, OHIO

 

The demolition plan for a bridge that crossed over Interstate 75 near Cincinnati was flawed and has been found to have contributed to the structure’s collapse which killed a worker last month.

According to a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer, Brian Burgett, CEO of Kokosing Construction, the firm contracted by the Ohio Department of Transportation to carry out the bridge’s demolition, said the independent engineering firm his company hired to evaluate the plans in wake of the collapse found several problems.

“There is no question in our mind there is a mistake that’s been made in the demo plan design,” Burgett told the Enquirer. “Our engineering firm has told us that it wouldn’t work the way it was.”

Burgett also apologized to the family of 35-year-old Brandon Carl, the worker killed in the collapse. In a statement, Burgett said, “I am very sorry, and all of us are deeply troubled by these findings.”

Carl’s family filed suit against the state of Ohio after Kokosing announced that changes had been made to the plans just hours before the collapse.

Burgett told the paper that the company is continuing to investigate the collapse and said that other factors may have played a role in the incident. However, in the meantime the company has made a major change to its demolition policy, instituting a check on its internal plans.

The company has asked engineering firm Janssen & Spaans to develop its own plan for each of Kokosing’s future demo projects. “Unless both designs agree, we won’t proceed with demos,” Burgett said. J&S will also review any amendments or changes made to approved plans.

You can read more about the collapse, including what some bridge experts have pointed out as an obvious flaw in the Kokosing plans, at the Enquirer.

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CHANGES WERE MADE TO DEMOLITION PLANS HOURS BEFORE CINCINNATI BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Kokosing Construction Company Inc., whose employee Brandon Carl was crushed and killed in January while working atop a bridge crossing Interstate 75, says it has hired “independent experts” and a “third party professional engineering firm” to review its demolition plans for the entire company.

CEO Brian Burgett made the announcement in a statement late last week, as reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer, where the statement can be read in full.

Kokosing also released documents detailing demolition plans for the bridge, which revealed that an engineer made changes to the plans hours before the incident took place. According to the Enquirer, “An independent bridge expert has suggested the engineering on those changes was flawed,” calling them “sloppy,” and fundamentally flawed.”

Carl’s family has since filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Transportation, calling the department “negligent and careless, according to the Enquirer.

Burgett said that while nothing the company does “can ever change the tragic events of January 19 when something went terribly wrong,” what it has done is “review and reinforce the procedures we follow to check and double-check our demolition plans for this (the Hopple Street Ramp Bridge) and other similar projects.”

“We have always had stringent protocols in engineering,” Burgett continues in the statement, “we are taking this additional step to enhance the integrity of our demolition plans to protect the safety of our workers and everyone impacted by the construction we do.”

Kokosing will continue to work with investigators from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to figure out what caused the bridge to collapse, Burgett said.

“We want to know exactly what happened that day. We want to be sure nothing like this happens again. We work tirelessly to protect the safety of our employees and traveling public every day,” Burgett concluded.

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PARENTS OF BRIDGE COLLAPSE VICTIM FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST ODOT

The parents of the man killed in the Hopple Street bridge collapse have filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Sharon Frye and Charles Carl, both of Bracken County, Kentucky, filed the lawsuit in the Ohio Court of Claims on Monday, according to court documents. The overall amount they are suing for was unspecified, but they are seeking $11,295.50 in funeral and burial expenses.

It's the first legal action taken against the state after 35-year-old construction foreman Brandon Carl died while crews were preparing to demolish the old Interstate 75 overpass on Jan. 19.

Carl, of Augusta, Kentucky, was employed by Columbus-based Kokosing Construction Co., the state's lead contractor on a $91 million project remaking part of I-75. The lawsuit said ODOT ultimately is responsible because it hired Kokosing.

The lawsuit claims that ODOT was negligent and careless, in part, for "failing to warn" workers about the "conditions of a dangerous and unsafe bridge and flawed plans and calculations for demolition."

Carl was standing on the overpass as Kokosing workers prepared to demolish the bridge. Independent experts have suggested Kokosing didn't go about demolishing the bridge properly and that subsequent engineering changes to that plan made just hours before the collapse were flawed. Prior to the start of the demolition process, the bridge was considered structurally sound, according to federal data.

Carl was engaged to be married to Kendra Blair, who is the mother and legal guardian of their four children. Blair, who lives in Bracken County, is not part of the lawsuit. Frye, of Augusta, and Charles Carl, of Brooksville, also are asking for Carl's children and four other family members to be awarded damages.

Blair has hired well-regarded attorney Mark Hayden – a partner at Downtown-based Taft, Stettinius & Hollister – to represent her and the children in any potential legal matters.