A 43 year-old construction worker was killed in the Chicago suburb of Glenview last week when he was struck by a metal beam. The man was working on part of a new $100 million dollar expansion of the Glenbrook Hospital. After being struck by the steel beam the worker was taken to the emergency room onsite. It was there that the worker was pronounced dead.
This fatal accident in Glenview comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against the general subcontractor for the project. Pepper Construction group is the general contractor for the Glenview projects as well as similar project at the Libertyville Hospital. The Pepper Group has been named in the wrongful death lawsuit of a Prospect Heights construction worker who was killed in a fatal accident at the Libertyville Hospital construction site.
Last November, during the construction of an expansion project at the Libertyville Hospital, a worker was killed after he was pinned under lead-lined drywall. The lawsuit filed by the family of the worker killed in November seeks $600,000 in damages. There was no report yet if the family from of the worker killed in Glenview would also be filing a claim.
A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicated that while both incidents are being investigated, they are not at this point linking to the two incidents. OSHA investigations into fatal workplace accidents generally take the entire six months allowed to produce a final report.
While some construction accidents may be unavoidable, most injuries and fatalities can be prevented when the employer provides a safe working environment.
Source: Chicago Tribune Family asks for $600k from Condell construction companies in wrongful death lawsuit Amy Alderman, February 10, 2011