Workers Injured in Industrial Accidents

Safety at Work

San Marcos, TX (WorkersCompensation.com) – Rescue workers lowered a construction worker to the ground when he was injured in a construction accident on the fifth floor of a building.

Officials with Texas State University said the construction worker was working on the fifth floor of the school’s $103 million STEM classroom building, when a “platform” struck his legs and back.

Rescue workers with the San Marcos Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team said he was picked up using a crane from the construction site. After putting him on a backboard and lowered to the work area, the victim was taken to Ascension Seton Hays hospital in Kyle, Texas, where he was treated and released, a spokesperson for the university said.

The cause of the incident is still under investigation.

San Marcos Emergency Services said in a Facebook post – “This morning, San Marcos Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team responded to assist an injured construction worker at a project site on the Texas State University campus,” San Marcos Emergency Services said in a Facebook post. “Crews quickly accessed the patient, conducted an on-site assessment, safely packaged the patient for transport, and used specialized rope rescue equipment to lower him from the work area. The worker was then transported to Ascension Seton Hays for treatment. This incident highlights the value of specialized training, teamwork, and preparedness when every second counts.”

The incident was just one of several incidents where employees were injured in industrial accidents this week.

In Shreveport, La., a worker dangling from gear was rescued from a tree.

Officials with the Shreveport Fire Department said the man worked for a tree service, and was hanging by his safety rigging when they found him.

SFD officials said on Friday, May 8, they found the worker hanging from the tree, injured but conscious. He was retrieved from the tree and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Officials said they think a rotten limb in the tree broke and hit him as it fell. The limb also damaged the home, leaving a large hole in the roof.

In Warrensburg, Mo., a construction worker was struck and killed while providing traffic control at a construction site, police said.

Officers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said a 35-year-old worker was handling traffic control at a construction site near Waynesville, Mo, when he was hit by an 88-year-old man driving a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Highway patrol said the driver alleged he did not see the worker. The worker was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was uninjured.

In Rochester, N.Y., an iron worker was seriously injured in a construction accident at a high school.

Kyle Sager was working at the construction site of Hornell High School on April 27, when bar joists fell on him. Officials said he sustained a severe spinal cord injury as a result of the accident. According to some reports, the bar joists weighing thousands of pounds tipped over and fell on him while he was working on the school’s $30.2 million gymnasium project.

Sager was transported to the Hornell Airport and then airlifted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. While he has had surgery to stabilize his spine, his wife Marybeth Sager said, he faces additional treatment. Sager is currently in the neurosurgery step-down unit, she said.  

"Kyle has also faced additional complications, including a stroke, and is currently fighting through a very difficult and uncertain recovery," Marybeth Sager said. "We are taking things day by day and doing everything we can to support him."

The injury and treatment has deeply affected the family, she said.

"This has turned our lives upside down overnight. Between his medical needs, time away from work, and the many unknowns ahead, we are facing significant emotional and financial challenges."

A GoFundMe set up to help the family has raised more than $23,775 as of May 8.

“We don’t know what the road ahead will look like yet, but we do know it will be long. Any support—whether through donations or simply sharing this page—means more to us than we can put into words,” Marybeth Sager said on the fundraising page.

And in Alice, Texas, a Jim Wells County Precinct 1 employee was seriously injured when his leg became caught in equipment on a work site.

According to Jim Wells County Commissioner George Aguilar, the 24-year-old worker was inside a bin for unknown reasons when another worker turned on machinery that caught his right leg on a shaft with spikes on it that twisted it.

Fire and emergency crew responded to the scene and rescued the man from the equipment, then transported him to the Corpus Christi hospital.

Officials said they are continuing to investigate the incident and why the man was in the bin in the first place.

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