It’s not even been a week since the tragic collapse of the International Nutrition feed plant, and rescue crews in Omaha, Nebraska have again been called to the site of a serious construction site stairway collapse accident. Reports have indicated that 2 to 4 workers were injured on Monday afternoon when a temporary stairway collapsed. The temporary stairway had been built of cinder blocks and wood, and the wood apparently gave way.
The workers fell about 20 feet. One reportedly sustained life threatening injuries while another suffered serious injuries. The stairway collapse occurred at a construction site at 13th Street and Jones where a building is being converted into apartments. (Erin Murray, wowt.com, 1/28/14) The hearts and prayers of our stairway collapse injury attorneys are with the injured workers and their families.
The Importance of Temporary Bracing during Construction
Our stairway collapse injury attorneys have written before about the critical importance of proper temporary bracing during the construction phase of a project. Most unexpected structural collapses during construction happen because adequate temporary bracing was not installed.
An OSHA study of the causes of structural collapse construction accidents that occurred between 1990 and 2008 revealed that more than 60% involved collapsed temporary work structures like steel platforms and scaffolds. The causes of many of the platform failures were inadequate anchoring and bracing. In Monday’s Omaha case, the makeshift stairway made of blocks and wood sounds like it might have been particularly vulnerable to shifting and collapse when weight was applied.
Lack of proper bracing and resulting structural collapses are also a problem during demolition of buildings. The deadly Center City building collapse in Philadelphia over the summer that killed 6 and injured 14 has been blamed on removal of important structural support members (including joists) that would have braced the walls as the building was torn down.
Denena Points, PC’ stairway collapse injury attorneys emphasize that the critical supports had been completely removed, leaving three stories of brick wall standing vulnerable without support. Lacking proper support, the wall fell through the roof of the Salvation Army store next door, burying shoppers and workers alike in rubble.
Employers might be faulted in these cases for inadequate safety policies and insufficient worker training in proper bracing procedures. As the Omaha stairway collapse indicates, such failures could lead to needless worker injury, incapacitation, or death.
Almost all construction accidents are preventable. Click the link below to read more about proper bracing during construction projects.