Miami Fire Rescue had to pull out an injured construction worker from the 12th floor of an unfinished apartment building near Wynwood in Miami, Florida, using a crane on Tuesday morning.
According to Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll, the accident occurred at Pearl Midtown 29 on 190 NE 29th Street. Debris reportedly fell on an unnamed worker’s leg, pinning him to the ground. His co-workers assisted him by pushing the debris off his wounded leg and calling for help. But when a rescue team arrived at the site, they learned that the building’s elevator only reached the sixth floor.
The rescue crew had two options: to use a ladder or a crane. Since carrying the injured man down six stories on a ladder wasn’t safe, Carroll decided to use a crane. A technical rescue team went up the last six floors with a basket which was hitched to a crane that safely lowered the injured man to the ground. He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center for treatment and is reportedly in “fair” condition.
Coastal Construction has been identified as the general contractor hired for the project. Sean Murphy, the company’s co-president, told the press that the wounded worker had been trying to rig a crane boom by standing on a stack of formation materials, but the stack fell over and injured him.
Coastal Construction’s in-house safety monitors are reportedly investigating the incident and the project has been shut down until the investigation is complete. Morgan Group, the project’s Texas-based developer, has not released a statement about the accident.
This is the third accident to be reported in South Florida in less than two months. Two separate incidents occurred in Hollywood and Brickell in October. Both involved faulty scaffolding and led to the death of two workers and left several others injured. John Moriarty and Associates is the developer for both projects.
The accident in Brickell occurred on October 19 at a 60-floor luxury condominium called Echo Brickell near Southeast 14th Lane in Miami, Florida. It caused the death of a 50-year-old worker and injured five others.
The Hollywood accident happened less than a week later on October 24 at Hyde Resort & Residences. The scaffolding along the southern wall of the complex collapsed as three painters were working on an abstract mural. Raymond Willis Brown, 32, fell to his death and the other two painters were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital. The extent of their injuries is unknown.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is reportedly working with police to investigate the Brickell and Hollywood accidents. It’s unclear if OSHA will investigate the Pearl Midtown accident.