Probe Halts Work on Sewage Tank That Collapsed

As state officials began what they predicted would be a lengthy investigation into the roof collapse at a sewage tank under construction in Carson, five of the 11 men injured in the accident remained hospitalized Friday.

Work has been halted temporarily at the site, a 400-acre facility owned by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County where seven giant sewage treatment tanks are being built. The accident Thursday morning may delay completion of the $47-million project by up to a month, county officials said.

The tank became a giant bowl of wet concrete, tangled steel reinforcing bars and splintered wood when something gave way beneath the weight of the tons of concrete being poured for a roof cap.

While other workers scrambled to safety, 11 tumbled more than 50 feet into the debris and had to be lifted out by firefighters using a crane.

Two of the injured were impaled on steel reinforcing bars.

“It’s obviously some kind of structural failure, either of the forms that hold the concrete or of the scaffolding that supports the forms,” said Joe Haworth, a spokesman for the Sanitation Districts.

Susan Gard, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said the agency has issued an “order to preserve,” forbidding any alteration or tampering with the accident site until its inspectors complete a review. “I expect this to be a lengthy investigation,” Gard said, noting that California law allows up to six months for such accident probes.

The state order allows work to resume on the other tanks at the facility. Gard said construction is expected to resume Monday.

Kiewit Pacific, an Omaha-based construction company, and Quality Shoring & Scaffold, a subcontractor hired by Kiewit, have already completed two of seven huge “digester” tanks at the facility, Haworth said.

Officials said the five remaining tanks are expected to be finished by early 2003, although a month past their original schedule because of the mishap.

Four of those injured, whose names were not released, remained Friday at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. They are:

* A 30-year-old man in serious condition with injuries to the face and legs and an impaling wound through the buttocks.

* A 27-year-old man in fair condition with impaling wounds through the left thigh and foot.

* A 54-year-old man in fair condition with scrapes and bruises on his right arm and lower extremities.

* A 41-year-old man in fair condition with scrapes and bruises.

A fifth man, Ruben Gutierrez, 46, was in fair condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where he is being treated for fractures.