CRANE OPERATOR SERIOUSLY INJURED DURING SCHOOL RENOVATIONS

Listen to this article

A man has been seriously injured in the renovation and expansion of Secondary Education Institute (IES) Nicolas Salmeron.

According to Fire Chief of Almería, Francisco Bretones, the wall of 40cm wide reinforced concrete and about seven feet high, fell on the worker while he was working on weakening of the wall “It seems the wind has also have affected the time of the crash of the wall.” After the fall firefighters moved to the scene and had to remove the crane operator who was trapped by his legs inside the vehicle cabin.

The health workforce were next to reach the scene along with members of the Scientific Police of Almeria who moved to the institute to investigate the causes of the accident. The medics helped firefighters, directed and coordinated by Jorge Sanudo, in the rescue of the man who was urgently transferred to the Torrecárdenas Hospital. “He had one leg badly affected,” said Francisco Bretones, “the wall that has fallen was very large and heavy.”Apparently, the driver of the excavator underwent an emergency operation at the Hospital and Diario de Almeria reports that he lost a leg due to severe damages caused by the collapse of the wall.

Francisco Romero, a companion of the crane operator, as well as his boss at the scene could not believe what happened, “He is a man with much experience. In fact it is he who for years has taught me to drive and operate the excavator… I do not understand how it happened. I think it was by the vibrations given off by the excavator and the wall has fallen just as he was at standstill and he could not have seen it coming, because he is very prudent.” Also on the scene very quickly was the head of the company responsible for carrying out the work being done at the scene. Pedro Bermejo, was so shocked after seeing the severity of the accident he was unable to give statements or speak to press.

The crane operator had much experience in the industry as confirmed by the Technical Occupational Health and Safety of the Junta de Andalucía, Gustavo Corredera Martos, “Yesterday I spoke with him and he is a very wise man, as well as professional, so we’re all very concerned,” adding “Nobody can get used to this sort of thing.”

Jose Ginel, UGT secretary general of Almeria, lamented what had happened, “It is possible that what we take for years, only in the first quarter has been 20 serious accidents at work. We are still awaiting the figures for the second quarter of the administrations, but I know that the number of accidents is growing at an alarming rate,” said Ginel. “We cannot have in the province, at least at work, more accidents occurring. This is very counterproductive.”

Neighbours and onlookers swarmed the neighbourhood around the school on Calle Celia Viñas and ensured that all morning vibrations in the surrounding buildings were constant. In addition, other neighbours complained of the insecurity of the walls of the school, “It had to happen and is a disgrace to realise how insecure and unstable the walls that confine the institute are” says Francisco Medina, construction professional, “the wall that faces Calle Madrid is about to fall for three days and has been cordoned off now, not before, even though we called to give notice that it was not in a good state and we were ignored.”

The expansion and reform of Nicolas Salmeron IES is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is included in the Employment Opportunity Plan in Andalusia (OLA Plan) the Board approved in September to promote employment among the unemployed construction.

The execution of this work is carried out by the Ministry of Education through the Andalusian Public Entity Infrastructure and Educational Services (ESI Andalusia) and created about 47 jobs during its development.