Worker Killed in 40-Foot Fall

A construction worker plunged 40 feet to his death Thursday morning while working near the ceiling in a sound stage in Van Nuys.

After calling the Los Angeles City Fire Department, fellow workers took Augustine Ontiveros of Van Nuys on the back of a pickup truck across a muddy driveway to the front of the site on Saticoy Street, where fire officials tried to revived him, said Matt McKnight of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

McKnight said Ontiveros, 54, was in “traumatic full arrest” when fire officials arrived. He was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead from head injuries at 11:25 a.m.

Because the victim had no identification with him, it wasn’t until Thursday evening that his family, most of whom live in Mexico, was notified, hospital spokeswoman Teddi Grant said.

The California division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident. Richard Stephens, spokesman for Cal/OSHA, said Ontiveros was employed by special effects equipment firm Hollywood Mobile Systems, which was cited for various safety violations at another site in 1996.

In those incidents, after Cal/OSHA received a complaint, investigators found “several violations of California standards,” including a lack of guardrails at elevated locations, Stephens said.

The company was fined $650 for the violations, according to Cal/OSHA records.

Officials with Hollywood Mobile Systems declined to comment.