OSHA and APD investigate high-rise fall

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin Police Department and Occupational Safety & Health Administration investigators returned to the scene of a deadly construction accident that killed three workers Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators want to know what caused a scaffolding platform to break and plunge three men to their deaths and almost kill another.

OSHA investigators used a crane and semitrailer to collect evidence at 21st and Rio Grande streets after arriving back on the scene at 7 a.m. Thursday. The crew is part of the investigative team taking a closer look at the scaffolding platform that four men stood on just moments before the accident that happened around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The crane Thursday removed what was left of the broken scaffolding platform from the 21 Rio building while APD crime scene investigators took pictures of the building.

OSHA investigators said they plan to comb every inch of the broken platform for signs of problems or possible violations.

National Chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association Frank Fuentes said with all the scaffolding accidents, OSHA should have written rules and standards for scaffolding by now.

"There are no standards yet to be written by OSHA that address the building and disassembling of scaffolds," said Fuentes. "This kind of incident affects everyone."

Fuentes said an estimated 3.3 people die a day in the construction industry, 2.4 of those people being Hispanic. It is a familiar fact he said is still very tragic.

"It's always very sad when a construction worker dies," said Fuentes. "It's like losing a family member. It's a sad day."

Meanwhile, OSHA officials said a report on what happened will likely take up to six months to investigate. Officials said they expect to find out what happened and will be looking into any violations the construction company may have had that caused the accident.

Though police said it is too early to say anything concrete about how or why this happened, investigators completed their initial investigation Thursday morning. APD said it wants to make sure that what looks like an accident was not a deliberate attempt to hurt the workers.

“We are taking the information they have and analyzing that information and any evidence we have from that scene and working in conjunction with OSHA to find the cause of this accident,” said APD Sgt. Richard Stresing.

Stresing said though the department is taking the investigation back to the office to begin reviewing everything they have, officials are still looking for witnesses and talking to the ones they have.

No workers showed up to work on the 21 Rio Luxury Apartment Thursday because the construction site is shut down for the day.

Police said they expect to release the names of the three victims and the one man who survived later Thursday as soon as they notify all the families involved.