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Overpass mishap kills one |
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Friday, 08 May 2009 |
An inspector for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department died Thursday after he was hit by a crane at the overpass project at Edison Avenue and Arkansas 35 in Benton.
Mark Abbott, 45, of Conway was walking a platform behind a crane around 10 a.m. when the crane spun around, hit him and caught him between the crane’s tracks, according to Benton police.
Sgt. Kevin Russell said the department is not criminally investigating the accident.
This is the second accident at the overpass site since April, when a man fell nearly 35 feet from one of the overpasses.
Authorities said late Thursday that the project will be shut down today and possibly more days while several investigations go under way. The AHTD, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Manhattan Road and Bridge Co., who is the general contractor of the overpass project, are all conducting investigations into the fatal accident.
AHTD spokesman Glenn Bolick said Abbott was inspecting both the safety of construction employees and that specifications on the project were being met. He said Abbott was a longtime employee and had been inspecting the Benton overpass project for nearly a year.
“Mark [Abbott] was an employee here for over 22 years,” Bolick said. “He worked the ranks and became an inspector, which he had been doing for over 6 years.”
Bolick said the highway department is launching an investigation today, but said the results would likely not be in the form of a standard report. He said he was not aware of the incident that happened in April, in which a man fell from the overpass. Bolick said that was likely because the man reported to a subcontracted construction company.
On April 21, Aurrelia Santes, 25, of Fayetteville fell nearly 35 feet, but despite being taken by MedFlight, he was later discharged from Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. At the scene of the accident, Benton firefighters first found Santes, an employee of Oklahoma-based M.J. Construction Co., lying on the ground near a train track face down.
Firefighters said Santes, who was conscious, narrowly missed landing on the track. A train was traveling down another set of tracks at the time of the accident and stopped just under the overpass project.
With these two accidents within a month at the overpass project, Bolick said the AHTD is continuing the goal of making work sites safer for all people.
“Certainly work-zone safety is paramount to what we do,” Bolick said. “We are always working towards that goal, but unfortunately accidents still happen sometimes. But safety is our number one concern.”
Bolick said the AHTD lost a good friend and employee.
“It is a great loss today for the [AHTD] family,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark’s family.”
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