Man Killed By 3K-Pound Beam While Working On 405 Widening Project
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A construction worker was killed early Thursday morning in West Los Angeles while working on the 405 Freeway widening project.
The accident happened around 3 a.m. in the 11000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, between Sawtelle and the freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports Adolfo Figueroa, 42, of Lancaster was killed when a 3,000-pound steel beam being loaded onto a truck fell on him, according to officials.
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"It appears that the construction worker was in an active construction scene and was adjacent to a semi truck . . . at some point one of these beams did drop and crushed the construction worker," Sgt. J. A. Zizi said.
Figueroa died at the scene. He was employed by Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., a contractor hired by Metro for the more than $1 billion Sepulveda Freeway Improvements Project.
"We were deeply saddened to learn that early this morning one of our employees, Adolfo Figueroa, died while performing work on the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project," Kiewit said in a statement. "We extend our sincerest condolences to Adolfo's family and friends, and those who knew and worked with him at Kiewit. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with all of them at this time."
A crisis counseling team was sent to the scene by the City of Los Angeles and construction work at the site will be stopped "pending the outcome of the investigation," Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said.
Sotero said the accident is in many ways unprecedented.
"We've been under construction since 2009," he said. "The contractor has worked four-and-a-half million man hours on this project without any major accident."
The southbound Santa Monica off-ramp was closed while the CHP and Cal-OSHA conducted an investigation.
