15.07.2009

Fatal mastclimber accident could lead to homicide charge

A Texas district attorney is considering charges of criminally negligent homicide against employees of American Mastclimbers of Whitney, near Waco, Texas, following a fatal mastclimbing work platform accident last month.

The mastclimber, built and supplied by American Mastclimbers rental division, collapsed last month while working on a high rise apartment building in the campus area of Austin, Texas, killing three men.

Wilson Joel Irias Cerritos, 31, Raudel Ramirez Camacho, 27, and Jesus Angel Lopez Perez, 28, died after falling from the 13th floor of the 21 Rio apartment development on Rio Grande St. A fourth man received minor injuries after jumping or hanging on to a balcony.

According to a police search warrant issued last week, employees of the company had "negligently erected the unit and used parts and materials which are substandard and/or graded below the weight limit needed to support this type of work and loading."

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Austin Police Department have been investigating the incident and what caused the collapse since it occurred on June 10th.

Mark Spangler of the Austin Police homicide unit said: “At this point, we’re not saying we believe anybody is potentially criminally liable. The warrant is necessary to further work on the technical aspects of the case”

Criminally negligent homicide is a felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

The accident which we missed at the time, occurred when the left hand platform on a single mast arrangement, dropped from the central drive unit after the bolts holding it sheared. Video footage of the accident suggests that an end extension at the end of the platform caught on a balcony as the platform was being raised. It started to bend and then exerted sufficient force on the bolts to shear them, causing the platform to break free and drop.

Some of the discussion that has lead to the possible homicide charge relates to whether the installers had installed all of the bolts required to bolt the platform to the central unit or If they had simply bolted the top of the platform. Alternatively the grade of bolts used are also, we understand being investigated.