Berwald Roofing Co., the subcontractor involved in the fatal accident at the Minnesota Vikings stadium construction site, has received nine citations for worksite safety violations in the past five years. An employee of the company was killed on Aug. 26 when he fell about 50 feet at the U.S. Bank Stadium construction site in Minneapolis. Another worker was injured. Berwald, which has a $3.4 million contract to work on the stadium, has been cited for a number of issues, including failure to use safety harnesses on elevated worksites, according to Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records.
Mortenson Construction, the general contractor overseeing the $1 billion-plus project, says it is working with OSHA to investigate the accident. The company, in a statement, had this to say:
Our priority is to ensure that we know exactly what happened and ensure that it never happens again. A man lost his life on this project today and that simply never should happen.
John Wood, Mortenson’s senior vice president, said hitting the project’s tight deadline to get the stadium open in time for the Vikings preseason in August 2016 hadn’t been his immediate priority.
Source: Claims Journal
