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| Matthew Heyman, 60, of Grand Rapids, Ohio (left, of course) |
WESTON, Ohio — A 60-year-old man was killed Tuesday in a construction site accident.
Matthew Heyman, 60, of Grand Rapids, Ohio, was struck by a beam at 14109 Weston Road. Emergency crews were called just before noon Tuesday.
Mr. Heyman was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
The incident is being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OHSA spokesman Rhonda Burke said the accident occurred when a roof truss collapsed during construction.
Public records identify the Weston Road property’s owner as Bradley Haas. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
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Emergency crews were called out to a Weston residence just before noon Tuesday after a report of a large wooden beam that fell on a man. The Wood County Sheriff's Office reported the man died in the construction accident.
The man, reported to be Matthew Heyman, 60, of Grand Rapids, was said to be unresponsive at the scene.
Weston EMS was sent out and additional manpower was requested.
An air ambulance was called to the scene, in the 14000 block of Weston Road. A barn was being built on the scene and it appears as if the entire roof framing had collapsed.
The accident is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Wood County Sheriff's Office.
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Noise from construction work on Weston Road that kept residents awake Monday night, won’t happen again, according to town officials.
Residents complained about beeping sounds from trucks backing up into the wee hours of the morning, causing them to lose sleep. The Department of Transportation is working to get a plastic pipe installed under Weston Road (Route 57) in time for the road to be paved before their asphalt plant closes for the season. The plant closes in December every year, but the date changes based on weather in the area.
“Nobody told us in advance there was going to be all-night construction,” said First Selectman Nina Daniel. “We have confirmation that the DOT won’t work overnight again, and we are currently looking for alternative times.”
Multiple Westonites contacted Weston police and the DOT independently. Before there was confirmation of alternative times, residents were told the road work would take place on Weston Road near River Road from approximately 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the next two weeks.
“They were looking ahead at the rain and they knew they were going to lose some work days so they decided to work overnight,” said Town Administrator Tom Landry. “I called the DOT and said they can’t be doing this at night. They apologized and said they’ll work on another plan to get the road done.”
Both Landry and Daniel said the DOT will likely do construction on Weston Road during the day, between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.. Daniel described that timeframe as “times that aren’t during normal sleep hours.”
“I know they want to get the road paved so there isn’t gravel on the road all winter,” said Landry, who added that plowing the road becomes more of a challenge when the road is gravel and not pavement.
One lane of Weston Road will likely be closed while the DOT is working on installing the pipe and paving the road.
“It’s probable that one lane will close and people will have to queue up and stop for a bit,” said Landry. “We’ll have to suffer through any consequences that we’ll face when it comes to lane closures.”
According to the DOT, the work on Weston Road is a $3.3 million state-funded project to place two new culverts under the road to allow water from Kettle Creek to flow in a more efficient manner.
According to Kevin Nursick, DOT Director of Communications, there are currently two “failing” corrugated metal pipes that carry Kettle Creek under Weston Road.
“We’re replacing those pipes with two precast concrete culverts,” said Nursick. “It will allow for more water flow, which is done under strict biological permitting requirements.”
Nursick believes the DOT can still meet the originally scheduled project completion date of July 2018.
While the project of replacing pipes sounds relatively cut-and-dry, there are utilities under the road, he said, that need to be taken into consideration.
According to Nursick, there are 16 electrical conduits in a utility bank located under Weston Road. The utility bank is larger than the DOT expected and the culvert now has to be redesigned.
Based on the original design, the top of the culvert would conflict with the bottom of the utility bank and the culvert needs to be designed so there is no overlap.
“These are things you normally don’t run into,” said Nursick, adding that the utility bank has likely been underground since the 1960s and there weren’t records on how deep it went. “It’s hard to point a finger because these utilities were installed decades ago. The folks that did it are long gone now.”