Newly erected scaffolding on a highway ramp under construction in north central Calif. collapsed sending a construction worker plummeting 50 feet to the ground and crushing the legs of a FedEx driver who was trapped in his truck. Thirty-six tons of steel girders and bent posts crashed to the ground around 7:15 a.m. at state highways 149 and 70 in Butte County. The cause of the scaffolding collapse was not immediately known.
Two steel beams landed on the FedEx truck, crushing the driver's lower extremities and trapping the 45-year-old in the truck for more than three hours.
The mother of the Fed Ex driver said she did not know the extent of his injuries but that her son was in the hospital, conscious , and talking to his family.
Also hurt was a 39-year-old employee of Caltrans contractor Flatiron Construction. He suffered broken bones in his leg, elbow, and pelvis after the scaffolding platform he was standing on collapsed. He was wearing all his safety equipment and it saved him.
The state is upgrading two-lane Highway 149 to a four-lane expressway, and the project includes several flyovers between highways. Dinger said false work -- temporary scaffolding that serves as a platform for construction workers -- for the flyover that will connect highways 149 and 70 had just been put in place.
The roadway was closed from 10 a.m. until 5 a.m. while the false work, made of steel girders and bent posts, was constructed. A portion of it collapsed just a little more than two hours after the work was finished.
Cal-OSHA is investigating the cause of the scaffolding collapse.
Dinger said officials may be able to make at least a preliminary determination of the cause by Wednesday morning.
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