OSHA probing wall collapse at Quincy landmark that injured 2 workers
The federal agency in charge of workplace safety is investigating what caused a wall at the former Wollaston Theatre to collapse and injure two demolition workers, trapping one of them under a steel beam and a pile of bricks.
Emergency personnel inspect the scene where workers were injured by a collapsing wall
By Patrick Ronan & Jessica Trufant Posted Jul. 12, 2016 at 3:27 pm Updated Jul 13, 2016 at 5:07 PM
The federal agency in charge of workplace safety is investigating what caused a wall at the former Wollaston Theatre to collapse and injure two demolition workers, trapping one of them under a steel beam and a pile of bricks.
The injured men, Jorge Oliveira, 37, and Phil Shaheen, 40, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and were rushed to Boston Medical Center after a 20-foot-tall brick wall off Chapman Street – the last wall standing at the landmark theater – collapsed at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. The two men work for Jamie McGuinness & Sons, the Quincy contractor that has been razing the 90-year-old building, known locally at The Wolly, since last month.
Tara Goodwin Frier, a spokeswoman for the demolition company, provided the "Our workers’ safety and well-being are our top priorities and after visiting them in the hospital, I am relieved to report that both Jorge and Phil are recovering from the injuries they sustained in this afternoon’s accident.
"The accident occurred during the last few minutes of the demolition process to remove the final section of the exterior wall. All proper construction procedures were followed and the demolition plan was reviewed and approved by an independent structural engineer and is on file with the city. I spoke with an OSHA representative onsite this afternoon and will continue to provide any additional information they may require."
Quincy Dept. Fire Chief Jack Cadegan said one worker, later identified as Oliveira, was in the bucket of a boom truck and the other, Shaheen, on the ground when the wall collapsed, sending bricks, steel beams and other debris crashing down.
Wollaston Theater Oliveira jumped from the bucket as the wall crumbled, suffering some lacerations and a leg injury, Cadegan said. Shaheen suffered more serious injuries when he was trapped under bricks that blanketed him from his chest down.
“A steel column that had come down landed across his chest, and that may have saved him,” Cadegan said, adding that the beam alleviated some of the pressure from the bricks.
Fire Capt. Jim Kennedy said Shaheen was buried under about four feet of debris, which firefighters dug out “brick by brick.”
“He was in such a great amount of pain. He was moaning and groaning, which was a good sign,” Kennedy said. “He's very lucky to be alive. God was looking down on him.”
Within an hour of Tuesday’s wall collapse, investigators from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on the scene surveying the rubble and interviewing workers from Jamie McGuinness & Sons. The contractor, hired by the theater owner, Miao Kun “Michael” Fang, has been on the theater property for a number of months to prepare for and carry out the demolition project.
According to the federal agency’s website, a complaint was filed against Jamie McGuinness & Sons on June 13, but the nature of the complaint wasn’t specified. There was also a referral to the agency about the same contractor on May 17.
As of Tuesday, neither the complaint or referral had resulted in citations for violations.
Police closed Chapman Street to vehicular traffic for a number of hours Tuesday afternoon as a crowd of onlookers flocked to the scene. Several people said they saw the wall come down on the two men. Witness Joe Yip, 16, of North Quincy said the workers and detail police officers rushed in to help as soon as the wall came down, which he said happened “in a split second.”
“It was the most awful crashing sound you could imagine,” Yip said. “People were yelling. Everyone was shocked.”
The theater demolition has drawn some public interest due the site’s local prominence. Since the demolition started, demolition crews have been giving bricks away to any local resident who wanted a keepsake from the theater, which was built in 1926 and closed in 2003.
Mayor Thomas Koch and a group of city residents had been hoping to preserve The Wolly, but Koch said in May that he wasn’t willing to spend between $2 million and $3 million – the price he says Fang was asking for – to buy the dilapidated building in need of major fixes. Fang purchased the theater for $600,000 in 2012.
“Our first concern is for the injured employees of the demolition company,” Stephen Crawford, Fang’s spokesman, said in an email Tuesday sent shortly after the wall collapse. “We are on the scene and cooperating with investigators.”
Fang, who's also known in the city for his controversial plan to build an Asian supermarket called C-Mart in North Quincy, hasn’t said what he plans to build at the former theater property, which sits between Beale Street and Chapman Street.
In recent weeks, Sandy Chau, who owns the two-family home at 21 Chapman St. that’s adjacent to the rear portion of the Wollaston Theatre, and her brother, Tommy Chau, have been raising concerns about the stability of the wall that ultimately collapsed Tuesday.
Late last week, the wall was still about 65-feet high, towering over Sandy Chau’s property. But about half, if not more, of the wall had been removed at the time of the collapse.
Tommy Chau, who lives across the street from his sister, has been filming the demolition project daily from his porch due to his concerns over the project and his sister’s safety. He said he has footage of Tuesday’s collapse he’s going to give to police.
Jay Duca, the city’s director of inspectional services, said his department was overseeing the project and had no concerns about the stability of the wall that came down.
“We were here most of the day watching, and obviously something went wrong,” Duca said.
Furthermore, a structural engineer, Paul Bonarrigo, has been overseeing the demolition plan due to the large scope of the project, Duca said.