Safety
Construction Worker Falls Six Stories at Obama Presidential Center in Chicago
A worker fell six stories down a ventilation shaft at the Obama Presidential Center under construction in Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Trent Sprague/Chicago Tribune/TNS
A construction worker fell into a ventilation shaft Jan. 23 while working at the Obama Presidential Center, being built by the joint venture contractor Lakeside Alliance, in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
The Chicago Fire Dept. responded at about 1:05 p.m. to the site at 60th Street and Stony Island Avenue where the worker, who has not been identified, was found in the basement of the museum building under construction.
“He was inside the duct work,” said fire dept. spokesperson Larry Langford. “We cut it open and got him out.”
The worker had fallen from the sixth floor, Langford said.
“He fell inside a vent which is angled back and forth so it wasn’t a straight drop,” Langford said.
Chris McFadden, a spokesperson for Turner Construction, which is part of the Lakeside Alliance, said the worker fell into the vent and then "moved his way down" the shaft.
The worker is employed by a subcontractor whom McFadden did not immediately identify.
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A statement from Lakeside Alliance said the worker was installing insulation inside the ventilation shaft and, following the accident, was “conscious, alert, and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center for evaluation and care.” The Obama Center is being built adjacent to the University of Chicago campus; the medical center is nearby.
Lakeside Alliance is a joint venture of construction firms Brown & Momen, Power & Sons Construction, Safeway Construction and UJAMAA Construction, joining with Turner Construction to build the Obama Center. The center's campus will encompass 19 acres, including a museum, auditorium, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, an athletic facility and a fruit and vegetable garden.
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