San Diego, California Talk Radio Station - 760 KFMB AM - 760kfmbState Blames Scaffolding Company For Deadly Collapse
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) - State officials have concluded that a scaffolding company is to blame for the fatal collapse of a temporary walkway cover in downtown San Diego, it was reported today.
One man was killed and at least 14 others were injured in the collapse, which occurred last August. A report released Tuesday by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health founds Paramount Scaffold Inc.
overloaded scaffolding and created a hazard with stored materials, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The company was sent a notice that it will be fined $10,120 for two serious violations of state safety regulations, according to the newspaper.
The 200-foot-long walkway cover was made mostly of wood, and was meant to shield pedestrians from any possible falling debris as they walked by a construction site on Imperial Avenue at 15 Street. The cover collapsed under the weight of scaffolding materials stacked against it shortly after noon on Aug. 28.
Tyrone Allen, 49, was among more than a dozen pedestrians and transients trapped below the collapsed cover. He was instantly made a quadriplegic and died earlier this month from injuries suffered in the collapse.
Allen's widow and three adult children previously filed a negligence lawsuit against the property owner, the general contractor on the project and Paramount Scaffold. The family plans to amend the lawsuit in the near future to claim wrongful death, according to the Union-Tribune.
Copyright 2009, City News Service.
