Construction Worker Deaths on the Strip

[flashl]

‘Not in this city’
Safety engineer says fundamental change impossible in build-crazy Vegas

The disturbing rash of worker deaths at casinos, condos and hotels being built along the Strip raises safety issues that must be addressed, safety engineers and others say. But making fundamental changes in the culture of construction safety in go-go Las Vegas will be tough.

“It’s not going to happen, not in this city,” a safety engineer for a large general contractor said Monday, speaking on condition that he would not be identified. “It’s push push push.”

In the midst of its $30 billion-plus growth spurt, nine workers have died in eight accidents at CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Fontainebleau, Trump and Palazzo. That’s equivalent to the number of worker deaths reported during the entire 1990s Strip building boom.

As the Sun reported in stories Sunday and Monday, investigations by the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found patterns of safety violations by contractors that include failing to ensure workers are properly trained, allowing them to use faulty equipment and leaving them exposed to falls by not covering or guarding holes in decking or placing temporary planks or netting below.

Las Vegas Sun

[DainBramaged]

1. Nevada, a right to work state, a right to die state

Now more than ever they need Union protection.