Girders Tumble at L.A. Building Site; 3 Killed : Heavy Steel I-Beams Fall 11 Floors at Downtown Office Tower, Rip Through to Basement Level

A stack of steel girders suddenly plunged through 11 floors of a high-rise office tower under construction in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, carrying three workers to their deaths and injuring half a dozen others.

The accident occurred at 11:42 a.m. as the girders were being hoisted by a crane from a truck below to the fifth level of the structure at 1000 Wilshire Blvd., between the Los Angeles Hilton and the Harbor Freeway.

As the weight of another girder was added, the pile of five-ton steel I-beams tore a 40-foot-by-30-foot hole in the corrugated metal underflooring, then punched their way through lower levels and carried large pieces of the decking all the way to the sixth sublevel.

Los Angeles Fire Department Deputy Chief Don Anthony said an ironworker pulled a pin to release the crane’s sling and the entire stack of beams abruptly dropped, taking three men along.

Like Cards Shuffling

“I heard it collapsing and it sounded like a deck of cards shuffling,” related Caesar Ramirez, 45, an insulation worker who was standing near the truck that had delivered the girders to the job site. “When I looked up, a whole stack of them (girders) were coming down. There was a big crashing noise.”

One of the falling girders was plummeting straight toward the truck-trailer, near which Ramirez stood. He ran to safety at the Hilton loading dock.

As many as three dozen girders may have fallen, bystanders said. Authorities had no immediate estimate.

At least one witness, who saw the accident from an office in the nearby Citicorp Plaza, said only three workers appeared to be standing on top when the flooring collapsed. They apparently were the ones who died.

William J. McClive, chief building inspector for Los Angeles, said he was told by his inspector at the scene that “they overloaded the decking and members (girders) at a higher level and it came all the way down.”

A helmeted worker, who would not give his name, was taking photos of the tangled wreckage as rescuers took the injured to waiting ambulances.

“The -------s put too much weight on a floor,” he said, angrily. “You don’t put 50 tons of weight on a floor designed for 10.”

McClive called the accident “a dreadful thing,” but pointed out that the city has nothing to do with safety inspections at the site, which are the responsibility of the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA). The city inspector was there simply to make certain that construction was going according to approved plans, he said.

Rescue workers were unable to reach the bodies of the three dead men amid the crush of metal flooring and girders six floors below street level. By afternoon, a large crane was moved to the site in an effort to clear the wreckage.

Officials at first believed that they could remove the bodies by nightfall, but later decided that it would not be possible before today. All agencies involved in the investigation will meet at the site at 8 a.m.

Fire Department spokesman Ken Cassidy explained that the building was unsafe and that firefighters would be working all night to clear debris, working from the top down.

“When we’re sure nobody will get hurt and nobody will get killed, we’ll go in” after the bodies, he said.

In the meantime, the city ordered construction halted until safety engineers inspect the project.

Only two of the six injured men had to be taken to Good Samaritan Hospital. The only one admitted to the hospital was Kenneth McKellar, 27, who was reported in serious but stable condition with a fractured back. Treated for cuts and released was James Green, 46, a welder from Downey. Names of the dead men were not released pending notification of relatives.

Although there were initial fears that others lay crushed to death in the sixth subbasement, job supervisors soon reported that all workers had been accounted for.

As the giant crane was brought in to clear the wreckage, onlookers could see up through the open structure as jagged strips of torn metal construction flooring curled downward in the sunlight. Several cross-beam girders dangled from the uprights, apparently ripped loose by the falling tons of steel.

Three hard-hat ironworkers sat on a curb staring wordlessly. As a reporter approached, a police officer waved him away.

“They wouldn’t want to talk to you about it,” the officer said.

The building is being constructed on property between Wilshire Boulevard and 7th Street by Reliance Development Group Inc., a New York-based firm that has erected major office structures in New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Tucson and Los Angeles.

Reliance President Henry A. Lambert said last year that his company would spend more than $120 million to build the 21-story structure, as well as another $30 million to renovate the Hilton Hotel-Office Complex, which Reliance bought earlier in 1984 for $70 million.

Design of the new building at 1000 Wilshire was described as post-modern, with pediments, window bays and other elements of that style. The 490,000-square-foot structure was to be the first post-modern office tower in downtown Los Angeles.

By Wednesday, it was in the girder-frame stage up to eight floors in one area, but had reached only five stories at the point where the collapse occurred. Each load of girders was hoisted up by derrick to the top floor to be used in building higher levels.

The truck driver who delivered the steel, who also declined to give his name, said seven full truckloads had been delivered, with each load weighing approximately 45,000 pounds, or 22 1/2 tons.

As Cal-OSHA inspectors began to investigate Wednesday’s accident, it was disclosed that there had been at least one complaint filed against the project. But Bill Siener, Cal-OSHA manager for the Los Angeles district, said an inspection did not turn up any safety violations.

Swinerton and Walberg Construction Co., the general contractor, was cited by Cal-OSHA in May, 1981, in the collapse of a subcontractor’s crane at a Bunker Hill building site, where two people were killed and five were injured. As a result, Swinerton and Walberg and two subcontractors were cited for 17 safety violations and fined.

Clyde Wright, an executive with Swinerton and Walberg, said Wednesday that the firm “as a policy stresses safety in construction and is very distraught that this accident occurred.” He said all of the workers involved in the accident were employed by a subcontractor, John F. Beasely Co. of Dallas.

Bill Van Leuven, another spokesman for the contractor, said he did not know whether Wednesday’s accident would delay completion of 1000 Wilshire, scheduled for March, 1987.

Times staff writers Edward J. Boyer, Scott Harris, Nieson Himmel, Jack Jones and Boris Yaro contributed to this article.