Drugs Found in Worker Killed on Job

A subway construction worker who fell to his death in Universal City this year had heroin and marijuana in his system, according to an autopsy report that has prompted a new call for random drug testing of workers on the troubled Metro Rail project.

A toxicological report obtained Friday states that an unknown quantity of heroin was probably administered “within the last hour” before the July 25 death of Eleazar Montes.

Montes, a 33-year-old carpenter, fell more than 30 feet at a subway station construction site when the wooden platform on which he was walking collapsed. He was one of three Metro Rail workers killed this year, the first fatalities in the 10-year history of the $6.1-billion project.

Although the federal government requires random drug and alcohol testing for public transit workers with safety and security responsibilities--including jobs operating a bus or train--there is no such requirement for workers hired by private contractors to build the subway.

Contractors do test their workers before hiring, after accidents and if supervisors suspect abuse.

In a statement issued Friday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority called on contractor Tutor-Saliba/Perini--on whose project Montes was working--to look for ways to strengthen its anti-drug programs, including considering random testing.

No one said Friday to what extent the drugs may have contributed to the accident. A coroner’s spokesman said the drugs “may have impaired his abilities to function.”

The toxicological report found the heroin byproduct 6-monoacetylmorphine in Montes’ blood. “These results are consistent with heroin use,” the report says. Tests also detected marijuana in the worker’s urine.

“Basically what happens is heroin hits the system, and it’s metabolized,” said Stephenie Sermeno, a laboratory worker in the coroner’s office. “So you can’t actually detect heroin itself in the blood. All you can detect are its metabolites,” the byproducts of heroin.

Ernest Vargas, an attorney representing Montes’ parents, said the family was unaware of any drug use by their son. He said the coroner’s report would appear to have no bearing on the cause of the worker’s death. “It appears that was basically related to materials that had been used in the scaffolding,” he said.

Company executive Ron Tutor said the coroner’s report “speaks for itself.”

Tutor’s safety director said the company would implement random testing if permitted by labor agreements. “There’s no room for drugs in our industry,” Tutor said.

The coroner’s finding comes after Cal/OSHA’s discovery of problems with the scaffolding.

Cal/OSHA fined the station contractor for serious job-safety violations in connection with Montes’ death, including using defective wood in the scaffolding on which Montes was working. Although Montes was wearing a safety belt, Cal/OSHA inspectors said there was no safety line to which he could attach it.

Tutor-Saliba/Perini is appealing the $25,250 in fines. Ron Tutor declined to respond to Cal/OSHA’s allegations. The state agency is still conducting a criminal investigation.

The MTA issued a statement saying, “The MTA maintains a stringent policy to ensure a drug- and alcohol-free workplace for its own employees. Our contractors are liable for the safety of their own workers. However, the MTA does insist that the contractors maintain a tough drug- and alcohol-free work program.”

A recently released MTA safety audit recommended that random testing be considered “since the construction environment is inherently hazardous.”

The audit, ordered after a worker was crushed to death in a Hollywood tunnel in February, said the current policy does not do enough to identify drug and alcohol abusers.

No statistics were available on the number of post-accident tests that turn out to be positive. But, the audit said, “anecdotal evidence suggests that drug and alcohol use has played a role in a significant number of incidents on the project.”

Indeed, a locomotive driver involved in an accident this year while working for a different contractor was fired after a drug test revealed he had recently smoked marijuana.

The audit said random testing has run into union opposition.

“We are interested in protecting the rights of those who do not use drugs,” said Richard Slawson, executive director of the Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. “At the same time, we are absolutely in favor of any policies that eliminate from any job site anyone who would use alcohol or drugs.”

Word of the coroner’s findings came as the MTA marked the completion of the second subway tunnel through the Santa Monica Mountains.

The tunnel boring machine clearing a path for a subway between the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood broke through the last wall of dirt and rock about 4 a.m. Friday. The other tunnel was completed Oct. 22.

The concrete tunnel liner and tracks must be installed before the Hollywood-to-North Hollywood segment opens to passengers in 2000.