Construction Safety
Few Details Known So Far About Atlanta Parking Deck Partial Collapse
The parking deck at Emory University hospital in Atlanta where a partial collapse injured six workers. Photo: AP/Elijah Nouvelage
A partial precast concrete deck collapse one day, and a second accident the day after, have injured seven people and apparently stopped work at a parking structure under construction in downtown Atlanta.
Firefighters raised concerns about another collapse, the Associated Press reported. The project's prime contractor has asked the public to respect barriers around the jobsite.
The partial collapse occurred Sept. 11 at Emory University Hospital's midtown parking deck, where the project's prime contractor, Batson-Cook Construction, was overseeing the work.
The Atlanta fire department said in a Twitter post that it extricated one worker with leg injuries after a beam "pancaked down multiple floors" at the parking structure, located at 530 W. Peachtree Street.
In a statement the day of the collapse, Sept. 11, contractor Batson-Cook said the six injured "individuals involved were part of a subcontracting team working on site." Two sustained minor injuries and four were treated at local hospitals, the company stated, and the injuries "were not believed to be life-threatening."
Batson-Cook also said that structural engineers for Metromont, the big Greenville, S.C. precast contractor, inspected the structure following the accident.
But more trouble struck the next day.
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According to Batson-Cook's account, Metromont had begun to shore up the part of the structure compromised in the previous day's incident when at 1 p.m., "while OSHA was on site," part of the "compromised structure fell and injured one of the subcontractor's employees."
The team member, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries, was taken to a local hospital.
A manager at Metromont declined to comment on the accidents or on Batson-Cook's description of the events.
