Aram Boghosian for The Globe
Workers looked at a large slab of
concrete that could be seen wedged between the Central Garage and an
extension being built at Logan.
Boston, Mass.
An ironworker suffered life-threatening injuries on a Logan Airport construction site Friday when he fell some 40 feet at about the same time a concrete slab dropped from a crane.
Officials said they were trying to understand the connection between the incidents. They both took place around 7:45 a.m. Friday at the site of an expansion project for the Central Parking Garage near the Hilton hotel at Logan.
The ironworker, who is from Connecticut, fell from the third floor of the garage, officials said. A concrete slab, being hoisted to an upper level of the garage, broke free from a crane positioned outside the building.
The man was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment, according to Boston Emergency Medical Services and State Police.
The garage expansion is being handled by Turner Construction along with members of the Local 7 of the Ironworkers Union, officials said. There were 70 people working on the site at the time of the accident, according to a state official briefed on the investigation.
The $80 million project will add 10 stories and 1,700 spaces at the airport garage. Work began on the project in April, the official said, and is slated for completion by the end of the year.
Before the accident, workers were using a crane to position a precast slab atop reinfoced supports on the third floor of the structure, the official said.
Following the incident, workers could be seen looking at a concrete slab that was on the ground and wedged between the existing garage and the portion under development. Two orange lifts were positioned on the third floor of the construction site, and a blue and white crane stood nearby, its arm pointed toward the upper levels of the garage.
One man could be seen photographing a small section of concrete reinforced with rebar that appeared to have sustained some damage. Some pieces of rebar on one of the supports were bent out of shape while the top of a piece of rebar was missing on another support.
The damaged section of concrete was located on the third floor of the garage under construction, directly above the fallen concrete slab that workers were examining.
The new parking is under construction next to the pedestrian walkway connecting terminals A and E. Seven panes of glass in the walkway were damaged and replaced with plywood Friday.
The incidents are under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, State Police and other state and local agencies.
The Central Parking Garage remains open, and the incident is not affecting airline operations, Massport officials said.
However, the construction site has been shut down while the incident is investigated by federal, state and local agencies.