Two workers impaled with steel bars, four more injured at construction site in Brickell, Miami Fire says
Source: Miami Herald
Six construction workers at a Miami office tower project were injured and two were in critical condition Wednesday after a heavy load of rebar came loose from a crane while being raised and fell toward the ground, impaling two of the laborers.
The horrific accident happened at 830 Brickell, a signature Miami development designed by world-famous architects that’s set to become the second-tallest building in Miami-Dade County.
Emergency crews using large tools cut through the steel to free the trapped workers, who along with three of the others were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Only one of them didn’t require hospitalization, according to the construction firm that employed the crew. Three of the workers managed to free themselves, and another was removed from the pile of rebar after Miami Fire Rescue arrived.
“Something malfunctioned and it came loose,” said Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Pete Sanchez. “The two trapped under the rubble were impaled by rebar in their upper body. We cut them out.”
The accident happened around noon on the construction site, Sanchez said. No one on the ground outside the construction site in Mary Brickell Village was injured.
The city of Miami’s building department identified the contractor of the development at 830 Brickell Plaza as a joint venture between the British construction firm Ant Yapi and Miami Beach’s Civic Construction and said the developer was the OKO Group LLC.
When complete, the tower developed by the OKO Group and Cain International will have 57 floors and stand 724 feet tall — making it the second tallest building in the city behind the Southeast Financial Center. It’s also one of the first office towers built in Miami in a decade.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Civic Construction released a statement saying five of their workers were injured and that all of them were “alert and conscious” at the hospital. A sixth employee was treated on the scene and released, the company said. The workers names had not been released by Wednesday evening.
“They are reported to be stable and receiving care for their injuries. The safety of our workers and contractors is always our highest priority and we are cooperating with the [city of Miami] building department and OSHA in an internal investigation to determine the cause of today’s incident and to prevent it from occurring again,” the statement said.
The Internet real estate news site the RealDeal said the building designer Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is the same architecture firm that designed the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The site says billionaire Vladislav Doronin’s OKO is partnering with Cain International to develop the office tower and that the shared workspace company WeWork is expected to be an anchor tenant.
Doronin’s company has three other projects under construction in Miami-Dade: the Missoni Baia tower in Edgewater, the Una Residences in Brickell and the Aman Miami Residences and hotel. He’s also recently bought several properties in Fort Lauderdale.
Miami police closed Brickell Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets, and Southwest Eighth Street between South Miami Avenue and Southwest First Avenue. The streets were still closed by mid-afternoon.
Sanchez didn’t know how high up the rebar was when it fell from the crane. The bundles of rebar were being transferred from a flatbed of an 18-wheel truck when the accident happened. The Miami Fire Rescue spokesman said there were no workers trapped in the building and the scene was cleared after fire rescue arrived.
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Republished by the Law Office of Scott A. Ferris, P.A.