DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 2:11 p.m. December 23, 2008
4 hurt at Botanical Garden moved to Shepherd Center
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 22, 2008
Four construction workers badly hurt in Friday’s collapse of a skywalk under construction at the Atlanta Botanical Garden were transferred Tuesday from Grady Memorial Hospital to the Shepherd Center.
Construction worker Angel Chupin, 66, died in the accident and 18 others were hurt. Most of the injured have been treated and released. One worker was transferred to North Fulton Regional Hospital to be closer to family.
Jamie Gumbrecht/jgumbrecht@ajc.com
A sign at the botanical garden indicates the entrance for Hardin Construction.
Dr. Donald Leslie, medical director at the Shepherd Center, said three of the four being transferred were being brought from Grady’s intensive care unit to the ICU at Shepherd. Leslie said the men, all Hispanic and in their mid-20s to late 30s, suffered “many different types of injuries.”
“The majority of them are spinal injuries, and there is one who has a traumatic brain injury,” Leslie said. He said the worker with the brain injury underwent surgery at Grady for a fractured skull.
The men “have been rendered partially paralyzed or brain injured” by Friday’s construction accident, Leslie said. “Our staff here specializes in the care of people after these types of injuries.”
The Shepherd Center is a not-for-profit Buckhead hospital that specializes in treatment and rehabilitation of spinal cord and brain injuries.
Leslie said each man will be assigned a team of 8 to 10 people, including physicians, nurses and therapists.
“When a person is initially injured, they are so devastated and it is so catastrophic that they oftentimes think, ‘well, my life is over.’” Leslie said. “Well, their life is not over. That’s why they’re at Shepherd, to put their life back together.”
Leslie said he isn’t sure who’ll pay for the treatment.
“I know that some of these persons will have the benefit of worker’s compensation insurance. Hopefully all of them, but I don’t know that for certain at this time … That’s something we don’t worry about too much on the front end because of the generosity of the donors to Shepherd,” he said.
Chupin and 16 of the injured worked for subcontractor SDC Concrete Construction in Kennesaw, said Charles Naser, owner and president of the firm.
“We’re a small company, 100 or so workers,” he said. “These people were a large part of our work force, not to mention our brothers. They’re people we’ve worked shoulder-to-shoulder with for many years.”
The business, incorporated in 1991, pours concrete foundations, footings, walls, columns and slabs. SDC has worked on Heritage High School in Rockdale County, as well as Arabia Mountain High School in DeKalb County, Douglas County’s hospital and the Silverbacks soccer stadium in DeKalb.
The company has been inspected twice since 1990 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. No violations or fines were logged, according to the OSHA Web site.
Most of SDC’s employees worked with Naser for years, he said.
“All had proper paperwork,” Naser said. “You can quite imagine that OSHA has checked us out thoroughly.”
SDC, Hardin Construction Co. and the botanical garden have established a fund, accessible via any Wachovia Bank, to help victims and their families.
SDC is one of three subcontractors working with Hardin on the botanical garden’s “Canopy Walk” project. The walkway collapse occurred as workers poured concrete on the metal deck structure.
On Monday, the president of Hardin said the company followed safety procedures and workers were properly trained at the site.
“I’m convinced we did nothing wrong,” company president Bill Pinto said. “But the investigation needs to determine what actually happened.”
Pinto said there is no timeline for resuming work. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration returned to the accident site Monday. Its investigation is expected to take about six months.
“The timeline that we’re working with revolves around OSHA’s timeline,” said Pinto.
Pinto said Hardin Construction had worked with SDC in the past without any problems or complaints.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden reopened Monday morning for the first time since Friday’s accident. Pinto said the accident site has been closed off and security stationed there around the clock to deter curiosity seekers.
Botanical garden officials pledged to put admissions proceeds through the end of the year into a fund to help the accident victims.
Pinto, who called the collapse “the most serious incident in my 34 years,” said Hardin will donate $20,000 to a fund for the accident victims, with another $10,000 to come from the company’s charitable foundation. Donations can also be made at Wachovia Bank branches or through the offices of Hardin Construction or the botanical garden.
“Our focus has been, and continued to be, on the injured workers,” Pinto said. ‘There is pain going on, but there is also healing taking place.”
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