Worker killed by falling bag of rocks
November 16, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, contractor safety
OSHA is trying to determine what went wrong after a construction worker was killed when a 60-pound bag of rocks fell off a four-story building.
Juan Alvarado, 39, was part of a three-man team working on the roof of the building in Salem, MA.
The workers were removing gravel from the roof, lowering it to the ground in 60-pound bags.
Somehow, one of the bags, attached to a rope, fell about 60 feet and landed on Alvarado’s head.
He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
While the exact cause of the incident isn’t known, it appears the rope did not break.
Alvarado worked for the Victor Sosa Construction Co. of Beverly, MA.
An eyewitness yelled when the bag started to fall, but authorities estimate it took only two seconds for it to reach the ground.
Incidents in which workers are struck by falling objects or equipment account for 6% of all U.S. workplace fatalities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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November 16th, 2010 at 6:40 am
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November 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
So Mr. Alvarado was part of a 3-man team working on the roof. So how is it if he’s on the roof, lowering 60-pound bags of rock to the ground, that HE got hit in the head by a falling bag? Doesn’t make sense. Maybe he was the ground man on the 3-man team. At any rate, there should have been a safe area on the ground where no one is allowed to stand while a bag is being lowered.