DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 11:39 p.m. December 19, 2008
ATLANTA
Botanical garden accident kills 1, injures 18
Workers were pouring concrete for new ‘Canopy Walk’ attraction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, December 19, 2008
One man heard a “thud.” Another recalled yells echoing through the trees at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
And just about anyone close to the construction of Canopy Walk at the garden Friday morning was left shaken by what happened: one dead and many more injured, some seriously.
JOHN SPINK/spink@ajc.com
Emergency crews and ambulances were called to a major construction accident at the Atlanta Botanical Garden shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday.
Rick Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com
The accident occurred while work was being done on the new ‘Canopy Walk’ attraction. This photo from November shows the new 600-foot-long, 45-foot-tall skywalk.
Crews were pouring concrete for part of the elevated walkway when it collapsed shortly after 9 a.m., dropping workers as far as 40 feet to the ground. The botanical garden in Midtown, normally a place where moms bring their kids in minivans and SUVs, suddenly was clogged with ambulances.
The garden will remain closed this weekend.
On Friday afternoon, two federal investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating how the accident happened.
Emmakate Young was at her parents’ Park Lane home, close to the garden, when the walkway fell. “It was like … they were dumping huge material off a building and it echoed in a Dumpster.”
It killed one worker and injured 18 more. The injuries ranged from bruises to spine and brain trauma.
The fatality was 66-year-old Angel Chupin, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. A preliminary autopsy indicated he died of blunt force injuries.
The accident scattered workers and building materials along a damp hillside. Atlanta firefighters had to cut a hole in a nearby fence to get some of the wounded to waiting rescue vehicles. “It was sheer chaos,” said Pete Costello, a paramedic supervisor for Grady Emergency Medical Services.
“We didn’t ask what happened,” added Astria Benton, another Grady EMS supervisor. “We saw the results of it.”
Grady Memorial Hospital treated 16 workers whose injuries ranged from “walking wounded” to men strapped to gurneys, said Dr. Jeffrey Salomone, the hospital’s deputy chief of surgery.
Seven workers with brain, spinal and other serious injuries were sent to Grady’s intensive care unit, hospital officials said.
By Friday evening, Grady had released three workers. The rest, said hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson, would stay longer for treatment of broken bones and other injuries.
Two with multiple bruises were treated at Atlanta Medical Center. One left the hospital Friday; the other remained overnight for observation.
The brother of injured worker Anthony Keith Baker arrived at Grady on Friday afternoon, “still shaking.”
“That’s my brother,” said Roger Woodard, who drove from Albany with his wife, Angela, after learning of the accident. Woodard said his brother suffered broken bones.
“We love him,” said Woodard, “and we just want to get in there to support him.”
Judith Rivera came to Grady to check on her cousin, Adelfina Zuniga, who fell from the walkway. Rivera said she hardly recognized him; he was smudged with dirt.
“We don’t know what the company is going to do,” she said. “How could this happen?”
The hospital set aside a conference room for family members, who met with representatives of the construction company, Simpson said.
Deaths, fines
Signs at the work site indicate Hardin Construction Co. is involved in the walkway. A spokeswoman for the company said Hardin hired three subcontracting companies to pour the walkway concrete and perform related duties: Pioneer Concrete Pumping Inc., Forta Corp. of Grove City, Pa., and SDC Concrete Construction based in McDonough.
All the injured workers, she said, were employees of those firms.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration records show no fines or judgments against Forta or SDC, but Pioneer Concrete has lost a worker on the job before.
A worker for Pioneer Concrete died on Aug. 30, 1991, when a truck brace gave way, according to court records filed in the Georgia Court of Appeals. The court found the Smyrna-based company did “not argue that the fatal accident was caused by other than its ‘sole negligence.’ ” It paid the worker’s family $700,000, records show.
A spokesman for the company said its general manager was at the garden Friday.
OSHA also has cited Hardin and Pioneer Concrete multiple times for safety violations since 2000, and both companies paid a few thousand dollars each in fines, records show.
“Our present concerns are for those injured and their families,” said Bill Pinto, Hardin Construction’s president. The company also is providing grief counselors, he said. Pinto declined to answer questions, but said the company is investigating.
Signature project
The accident brought a tragic close to what was supposed to have been a happy occasion.
The garden had issued a press release saying crews would be pouring concrete for the walk on Friday. For the garden, it was a big deal.
The architectural firm that helped design the walk, Jova/Daniels/Busby, was trying to reach garden officials for more information, said Nancy Reynolds, the Midtown company’s director of communications.
“We are still trying to piece together what happened over there,” she said.
The pathway has not enjoyed unanimous support from people living near the garden, said Park Lane resident Gary Dixon.
Friday’s accident, he said, isn’t likely to silence Canopy Walk’s critics.
“It was just so terrible,” said Dixon, who described hearing a “thud.”
For electrician Juan Padillo, the accident struck close, literally and figuratively. He and his partner were working under the bridge Friday morning when they decided to take a break.
Moments later, he said, he heard an “explosion” — the walkway, falling.
“It was so tough,” he said. “I feel very lucky. Me and my partner, we could have been under the bridge.”
AJC staff writers Rhonda Cook, Matt Dempsey, Jamie Gumbrecht, John Hollis, Donna Lewis, Cameron McWhirter, Rachel Tobin Ramos and Eric Stirgus contributed to this article. The Associated Press also contributed.
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