On Sept. 22, two cranes collided on a jobsite in east Austin, leaving 22 injured, 16 of which were hospitalized.
All who sustained injuries were working on the project. The incident is yet another indicator that Texas remains one of the most dangerous states for construction tradesmen and tradeswomen — and by some standards, the most dangerous state.
The project is located near the Mueller development and is intended to be a six-story office building that includes a garage.
The contractor in charge of the project has had safety struggles in the past. According to KVUE, the general contractor on the project has received two Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines in recent years, one in 2017 when a worker was killed and an older fine in 2013.
Supporters of Work Safe Austin want to ensure that all licensed electricians in the Austin area are working in a safe environment, following all OSHA requirements. This hopefully allows everyone to return home at the end of the day.
Work Safe Austin used the following resources to compile this report:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/us/austin-crane-collapse.html
https://www.foxnews.com/us/structural-collapse-austin-cranes-injured
https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=98026.015
https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=897982.015
