Construction Worker Killed at Moscone Center

By Kelly Balamuth on July 16, 2018

You may recall a recent story in the news where a construction worker, who was operating a hydraulic crane commonly referred to as a “cherry picker,” was killed in a workplace accident at Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. According to the police department, the man, who was there to pick up a high-reach boom on behalf of a machinery rental company, was crushed between the heavy device and a concrete slab. Emergency workers pronounced him dead on the scene.

As reported by KTVU, police spokesman Albie Esparza said “It’s certainly tragic. A lot of his coworkers did witness this, so were trying to interview them to determine what happened exactly so that this does not happen again.”

Because the worker’s death was deemed a workplace accident, SFPD’s Traffic Collision Investigation Unit and the California Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began looking into the accident.

It’s well known that working in the construction industry comes with a certain amount of risk. According to OSHA, a staggering one in ten construction workers are injured each year. In 2016, 991 workers were killed during construction; that’s 21% of all worker fatalities in the United States. One in five work-related deaths took place in the construction industry.

OSHA says that if employers, the government, and workers join together to guard against the “Fatal Four” hazards of construction, we’d save 631 workers’ lives every year. The Fatal Four are:

• Falls
• Struck by object
• Electrocution
• Caught-in/between

The sad case described above falls into category 4—caught-in/between. Safeguards and safety practices must be practiced and in place at all times, so that tragic accidents are prevented.

What if this were to happen to someone you love and depend on, such as your spouse or child? Wouldn’t you want some answers, such as how could this happen? Who was responsible? What happens to my children and our livelihood? It’s appreciated that our local and state authorities do the difficult job of looking into construction mishaps to determine what went wrong. But who will look into it for you?

At Balamuth Law, we have been representing injured workers and their families in Northern California since 1991. We have experience battling insurance companies and we only get paid if we are successful on your behalf. If you are the victim of a work-related injury, contact our Walnut Creek construction attorney at (888) 254-1234 for a free consultation.