COSTA MESA : Worker Badly Hurt in Fall at Times

A construction worker was critically injured Tuesday when he fell through a ceiling that was being demolished as part of a pressroom expansion project at the Los Angeles Times Orange County Edition.

Ricardo Covarrubias, 31, of Riverside underwent emergency surgery at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after he apparently slipped and plummeted 48 feet from a catwalk onto a concrete floor.

He suffered facial trauma, a fractured skull and a compound fracture to the left arm and wrist, Costa Mesa Fire Department paramedics said.

Times spokesman Bill Furlow said Covarrubias, an employee of Anaheim-based Penhall Co., was part of a demolition crew assigned to a four-year remodeling project at The Times.

Penhall officials said they could not immediately determine how long Covarrubias has been employed with the company, but he apparently had befriended a number of Times employees since he joined the reconstruction project, due for completion in 1992.

“He is such a good, hard worker,” said Times security guard Kimberly Friske, who helped direct emergency crews to the scene.

Before the accident, Covarrubias and five other Penhall employees were working above the suspended ceiling, knocking out old plaster board and wood. The presses had recently been removed from the pressroom and the crew was preparing the ceiling area for reconstruction.

“They were punching down the roof,” Furlow said.

Penhall foreman Nick Buckley said that Covarrubias, who is married and has four children, apparently lost his footing and fell off the catwalk about 1:40 p.m.

“No one saw him fall,” Buckley said.

Covarrubias crashed through the thin ceiling and fell on his back atop a pile of debris scattered across the concrete floor.

Covarrubias was treated at the scene by paramedics and transported to the hospital. While doctors worked to save Covarrubias’ life, his wife and Penhall employees waited fretfully outside the emergency room.

Penhall spokesman Bob Norling, when reached at the hospital, said company officials were staying at the hospital with Cavarrubias’ wife.

“We are going to be here to help any way we can,” Norling said.