Sunday, August 14, 2016

Worker with Omega Concrete Systems electrocuted to death after the lift truck he was operating came into contact with overhead power lines in Andover, Kansas





 
Missouri man electrocuted in Kansas

Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 12:00 am

ANDOVER, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri construction worker has died after being electrocuted at a Kansas work site.

Authorities said 38-year-old Darrell Harden of Kansas City died Friday when he was working at a site in Andover.

He was working for a construction company, Omega Concrete Systems, headquartered in Kansas City.
Harden was a brick mason.

According to the press release from the city, the accident happened at 1606 North Andover Road. The city's website lists the address as the headquarters for the city street department.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Harden suffered fatal injuries when the lift truck he was operating came into contact with overhead power lines.


The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release the man was an employee of Omega Concrete Systems. The company’s website shows it is based in Kansas City.

Emergency responders got the call around 1:44 p.m. When emergency crews arrived, they found Harden lying unconscious near a boom lift truck, with power lines on the ground nearby. They began life-sustaining emergency procedures until Harden could be transported to the Kansas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the employee who lost his life today,” said Judy Freeman, OSHA’s Area Director in Wichita. “We will conduct a thorough investigation to determine if any violations of OSHA safety standards contributed to the incident.”

OSHA will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

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Introduction

Omega Concrete has been manufacturing architectural precast wall panels since 1974.  Our panels can be seen on many buildings buildings around Kansas City.
Precast offers durability, structural capacity, many finish options, and design flexibility.  These attributes often make it the best option for the walls on your building.
Types of buildings and structures that use precast:
  • Office Buildings
  • Schools and Churches
  • Warehouses
  • Retail Buildings
  • Public Buildings – Police and Fire Stations
  • Theaters
  • Hotels, Military Barracks and Other Housing.
  • Commercial Buildings
  • Parking Decks
  • Screen Walls
Types of finishes:
  • Light to Heavy Sandblast
  • Exposed Aggregate
  • Form liners and Custom Reveals
  • Inlaid Brick and Tile
  • Custom Imprints and Artwork
  • Inlaid Stone
  • Pigments and a variety of aggregates can provide almost any color desired.  These colors are permanent and will never need paint.
We typically supply our panels “erected-in-place” by our in house erection crews, but we can supply panels to be erected by others also.
Please page through our website to see example of various types of precast.  All pictures are of projects completed by Omega and typically the pictures can be clicked on and expanded.  Please call us (see the contacts page) if you have any questions.
Our site is currently under construction (you may see a typo or two) and we will be adding content over the next several weeks.

Insulated Panels

Omega manufactures a composite insulated wall system called Thin-wall (www.thin-wall.com).  Although we still produce many non-insulated jobs, our insulated panels are becoming very popular.  Thin-wall is a new system that uses thermally non-conductive Nu-Tie shear between the wythes (layers) of an insulated panel.   This connection method creates composite action between the layers of the panel and makes a very thermally and structurally efficient wall.  For example, a 3” concrete/4” insulation/3” concrete panel can have structural capacity that approaches that of a solid 10” thick concrete panel.   The longitudinal cross section of the panel looks similar to a truss, and it is no problem for these panels to act as load bearing wall panels.  This system is the most robust, versatile, and effective system we have used (and we have used many).
The system allows edge to edge insulation with R-values up to 20.    Because of the reinforcement method, the panels are lightweight and efficient to ship and manufacture.   The efficiency of the material usage also makes the environmentally friendly.
Other advantages of this system and precast in general:
  • The panels can produced with a large variety of exterior integral finishes.
  • This interior of the panel can be manufactured with a trowel finish that can be painted.
  • Electrical items can be embedded for a clean appearance if desired.
Smithville Performing Arts Center was completed in 2012. It uses 10" and 12" Thin-wall insulated panels. These panels used inlaid brick and tile, as well as areas of exposed sandblasted concrete as the exterior finish


Precast Erection

Omega Concrete has been erecting precast for over 30 years. Our union craftsmen have experience erecting everything from precast signs and small buildings to large parking garages and FEMA shelters.

Our erection crews typically install 10-15 pieces per day or more. This production can significantly reduce construction time on many projects.




Special care is required when erecting architectural panels since the precast is the final finish. When the building is nearing completion, the panels will be cleaned and patched as necessary so that the finish meets the specification.


These tall, heavily loaded stair towers installed in 2012 at 39th and Rainbow required careful planning from our engineers as well as our erection crews.
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