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Oct 14, 2024

Harbor Bridge crane operator settles with OSHA over accident

The operators of a Harbor Bridge project crane that malfunctioned and caught fire last year have reached a settlement with federal safety officials, agreeing to comply with approved procedures and

The operators of a Harbor Bridge project crane that malfunctioned and caught fire last year have reached a settlement with federal safety officials, agreeing to comply with approved procedures and inspections instead of paying fines totaling $62,500.

The accident happened April 22, 2023, at the construction site of the new bridge’s south pylon, when an 18,000-pound bucket of concrete that had been suspended overhead fell into the work zone below the tower crane, injuring the wife of a visiting baseball player during a Corpus Christi Hooks game at the nearby Whataburger Field.

Ada Hernandez was hit with flying metal shrapnel from the crane that cut through her baby bag and hit her in the spleen.

The Houston-area woman was taken to a hospital and released, after which the family filed a lawsuit. A settlement was reached with the crane company this April, according to the woman’s attorney, Loren Klitsas.

Multiple investigations followed the accident, with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration imposing four "serious" citations against the bridge developer, Flatiron/Dragados LLC, last December.

The company contested four separate fines totaling $62,500, signing an informal settlement agreement with OSHA on Dec. 18, 2023.

Flatiron/Dragados and the Department of Labor did not comment on the settlement in response to requests from the Caller-Times until recent months, the latter providing a statement last week.

On Jan. 14, Flatiron/Dragados spokesperson Lynn Allison said that after a review and discussions with OSHA, the citations had been withdrawn and that the inspection by OSHA had been resolved and was in the process of being closed.

OSHA stated in its Inspection Detail report that Flatiron/Dragados had allowed unauthorized crane operations, failed to inspect the crane every month the crane was in service, did not ensure operators were certified and allowed prohibited equipment modifications. Fines of $15,625 were imposed for each of those violations after an informal settlement agreement.

The four citations have been deleted in exchange for agreements that the crane company made to comply with specific safety standards.

“The OSHA citation(s) related to the crane accident were each deleted,” Allison said in a written statement on June 24. “No fine was assessed. Flatiron/Dragados, LLC met any and all obligations agreed upon with OSHA.”

The 76-page Inspection Detail report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, explains the terms of the informal settlement agreement made between the federal safety agency and the bridge contractor.

According to the settlement, OSHA amended the four citations and now requires the company to comply with employer-published procedures or inspection of altered cranes by a registered professional engineer, hold monthly inspections, only allow trained or certified/licensed crane operators to operate cranes at all times, and follow manufacturer-published procedures for lowering loads during malfunction or procedures approved by a registered professional engineer.

The bridge contractor agreed to correct safety hazards that exist at the crane site and to abide by abatement provisions by immediately posting a copy of the settlement agreement in clear view at or near the location of the violation.

The company also agreed to inform employees and their representatives of the abatement, and leave the agreement posted until the violations have been corrected.

Provisions include allowing OSHA access to the work site to ensure the conditions described in the citations have been met.

According to Juan Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Department of Labor, the agency has received documentation from the company explaining the procedures for lowering loads during malfunction, or procedures approved by a registered professional engineer, and acknowledgment of tower crane emergency descending procedures.

Though the dust has settled on the crane accident, questions still circulate about the Harbor Bridge construction project and what the outcome of the appeal will mean for construction and engineering firms enlisted on high-stakes projects.

An April 8 letter from OSHA responding to the Caller-Times' request for the Inspection Detail report stated that at least 2,471 pages of the total report file were redacted due to multiple exemptions that protect trade secrets and commercial and financial, interagency and personnel and medical information.

A key detail of the Inspection Detail report is OSHA’s mention of “penalty adjustment factors” for the employer, among which are a history justification for a previous citation that the crane company received from OSHA regarding a worker falling 12 feet and suffering fractures to both legs at the site of the Harbor Bridge project’s southeast corner column.

An investigative summary report of the violation provided by OSHA states that on Nov. 17, 2018, a worker was attaching rebar to the top of a concrete column when a form work panel adjacent to the worker collapsed, causing the fall. The worker was taken to a hospital for "treatment of fractures to both legs," the report states.

The company was fined $26,520.

The Inspection Detail report also contains multiple email exchanges between an OSHA certified safety and health official and a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that suggest weather was a contributing factor to the accident.

Documentation contained in the report from April 25 noted that two Flatiron/Dragados employees and two outside service company employees were tasked with manually lowering the suspended load due to concerns of forecast 80 mph winds.

However, there is no other indication that weather was cited as factor in the accident in previous case notes.

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