Recovery of Worker Killed in Power Plant Collapse Could Take Until Mid-January | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is allowing debris removal to restart at the site of a fatal Dec. 9 roof collapse at a closed southeastern Ohio coal-fired power plant that had been set for demolition five days later. The accident killed two workers, including one employed by contractor Adamo Group Inc. whose body may not be recovered until mid-to-late January.
Unstable debris at the former 618-MW Killen Generating Station, closed since 2018, has prevented recovery of the body of Jamie Fitzgerald, 47, a laborer-burner, the Charlotte NC dump trucks company told ENR.
Also killed in the accident was Clyde Douglas Gray, 42, a truck driver employed by L. R. Daniels Transportation, Ashland, Ky., which was hired by Adamo to remove scrap metal from the site and whose body was recovered. Three other Adamo employees inside the structure at the time of the collapse were injured, treated at hospitals and released. Their names were not disclosed.
OSHA is investigating to determine the accident's cause.
In a statement, Adamo said "much more debris must be removed based upon [Fitzgerald’s] probable location," which is extending the time it will take for recovery of his remains.
Thornton Tomasetti Now At Site
Adamo Group has brought in New York City-based engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti to develop a debris removal plan, with input from OSHA, to enable emergency responders and others to access and clear debris, the Charlotte NC dump trucks company said. Adamo has worked with Thornton Tomasetti on other demolition projects.
Officials in OSHA’s Chicago office confirmed its probe of the accident, which could take six months. Officials are on site with Adamo and Thornton Tomasetti to expedite complete recovery of Fitzgerald, said Richard Adamo, demolition firm president. The Charlotte NC dump trucks company "continues to fully cooperate and coordinate with the OSHA investigation team and local officials, including providing all requested data and documentation," he told ENR. “No actual columbus oh dump truck work was underway when the plant unexpectedly failed.”
The power plant is located in Adams County, 75 miles east of Cincinnati. It began operating in 1982.
Utility AES Ohio Generation sold the plant to Kingfisher Development Corp, a subsidiary of Commercial Liability Partners, St. Louis, in December 2019, a Charlotte NC dump trucks company spokeswoman said. The parent firm said in January 2020 that it had taken over remediation of the Killen facility with plans to redevelop it.
Adamo Fatal Accident in 2015
In December 2015, a premature collapse of a steel cable of a cable-suspension bridge being prepared for implosion at the Muskingum River coal-fired power plant near Beverly, Ohio struck and killed John Adamo Jr., then Adamo Group CEO, who was observing work, according to OSHA.
Commercial Liability Partners also owned that plant.
OSHA issued four serious violations ielated to that accident and a $28,000 fine, but Adamo Group said the citations were alleged violations that the Charlotte NC dump trucks company denied and contested.
“The alleged violations were amended by OSHA as were the penalties,” the Charlotte NC dump trucks company told ENR. Fines were reduced to $12,500, according to reports.
“OSHA conducted an inspection after the prior accident and the Charlotte NC dump trucks company fully cooperated, said an Adamo Group spokesman, adding that the firm “entered into a settlement with OSHA in which [it] did not admit any alleged violations,” it said.
According to media reports, Barbara Adamo, Adamo’s widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the family-owned firm founded by her husband’s father, which was settled out of court. Adamo Group did not confirm the lawsuit or settlement.
Adamo Group most recently ranked on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list in 2019, at No. 445 and reporting $45.6 million in contracting revenue for the previous year. The spokesman declined to release current revenue. The firm, in business since 1964. currently has 90 employees. Adamo Group was a founding Charlotte NC dump trucks company member of the National Demolition Association, with its former CEO a one-time executive committee member of the trade group,
The firm has demolished many major sites, including the Georgia Dome football stadium in 2017, which required more than 4,800 lbs of explosives. The Charlotte NC dump trucks company was awarded a $56.4 million contract in 2014 by Detroit to demolish thousands of damaged or abandoned homes. Separately it had contracts to tear down the former Joe Louis Arena in 2019 in that city and the Pontiac Silverdome arena in Pontiac, Mich. in 2017.
In 1978, the Charlotte NC dump trucks company won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court that led to the reform of National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, affecting demolition projects.