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Jun 16 2008

Dallas Cowboys Stadium Accident

Published by admin at 1:18 pm under Accident News

A man in his forties was killed at the new Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  Reports indicate that Timothy Mackinnon was working on the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium’s electrical system we he touched a high-voltage line.  CPR was admistered but he died dispite those efforts. JMEG Electrical hired Mackinnon as a subcontractor and offered their condolences to Mackinnon’s family.  JMEG Electrical indicated that a full investigation would occur.  This is the forth major accident at the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium construction site.  Other injuries sustained at the construction site include one many falling more than 20 feet, one breaking vertebrae after he was hit by a crane hook, and 3 others were hurt when they had to jump more than 20 feet to avoid serious injury when a crane cable snapped.

Updated:

One worker injured at the Dallas Cowboys stadium construction site remained in critical condition Friday at Baylor University Medical Center with what his sister said was a serious blow to the head.

The two other injured workers have been released. One is expected to be back at work Monday, and the other could return to light duty soon, the stadium’s general contractor said.

Hospital spokeswoman Susan Hall said the family of Wesley Harlow, the most seriously injured of the three, did not want to publicly comment about the accident.

But the sister of Mr. Harlow told WFAA-TV (Channel Eight) that her brother had not regained consciousness.

Keith Cooper, vice president of Manhattan Construction, the project’s general contractor, said he did not have details about the injuries.

“We just wish them the best and a speedy recovery,” Mr. Cooper said.

Mr. Harlow’s sister also said her brother, a 25-year-old Burleson resident, had been working construction since he was a teenager and had been with Derr Steel Erection Company of Euless for about eight or nine months. All three men work for that subcontractor.

The general contractor was not releasing the names of the workers.

Officials with Derr were at the construction site Friday investigating the accident and could not be reached for comment. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also was investigating as work continued at the stadium, Mr. Cooper said.

He said the number of accidents at the stadium construction site has been slightly higher than the national average for commercial construction. But he said most sites don’t have such a large number of employees. On an average day, he said, about 1,400 people work on the stadium.

There were 173 injuries reported at the stadium through Thursday, according to a report by Manhattan. The largest number – nearly one-third – involved wrists, hands or fingers. About 7.5 percent involved the head or neck.

There were 20 injuries reported in May, the largest number for any month since construction started in 2006.

There have been two other high-profile accidents during construction of the $1.1 billion stadium. In August, a construction worker was injured when he was struck in the back with crane cables while on an upper deck of the new stadium. A worker fell 20 feet from scaffolding onto the field in January 2007.

There have been no fatalities.

The accident Thursday happened about 2 p.m. when a cable connector “failed” on a crane, allowing the cables and other parts to fall. The three workers jumped off the cab of another crane – which was being assembled – to avoid the falling debris.

Mr. Cooper said the injuries were apparently caused entirely by the 10- to 12-foot jump.

“No one saw anyone get hit by anything,” he said.

Crane safety has been a national issue this year because of several high-profile fatalities, including incidents in New York City and Miami. In Dallas, a worker was killed Wednesday at a construction site when a cable snapped, causing a hook to fall and strike the employee.

The state of Texas and most cities do not regulate crane operations. That is usually done by OSHA.

Mr. Cooper said Manhattan requires all its subcontractors to inspect each crane every day.

Related:

Steve Quirk, a community development and planning employee for the city of Arlington, said last week in a speech to the Dallas and Fort Worth chapters of the American Society of Civil Engineers that Manhattan has a very good safety record. He said then that those were the only two major injuries during the stadium’s construction and that both employees were back at work.

On Wednesday, Omar Wray, 37, of Irving, was killed at a construction site on Maple Avenue in Dallas when he was struck by the crane’s hook that broke loose and fell on him. The TXI employee was apparently washing out a cement-mixer truck when he was struck.

Construction safety has been in the news recently, particularly after eight people were killed in a pair of recent crane accidents in New York City.

In light of this week’s crane incidents, QUOIN, a local chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, plans to meet with area general contractors to talk about crane safety. The goal is to discuss what can be done to prevent future crane accidents, said Raleigh Roussell, QUOIN’s president and CEO.

“There have been too many accidents,” Mr. Roussell said. “There’s something going on and we’re going to look at some type of solutions or actions that we can take to stem what’s happening. … We need to start comparing notes and gather as much of the details of each accident to see where there is a common thread.”

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