Investigating under way into cause of scaffolding collapse

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Posted 9:44PM on Wednesday, May 8, 2002

SMYRNA - Authorities began investigating Wednesday what caused a scaffold to collapse inside a 200-foot shaft at a Cobb County sewage treatment plant under construction, killing two workers and injuring six others. The men were working 130 feet below the surface, reinforcing the sides of a circular concrete shaft, when the scaffolding collapsed Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. ``At this point they're just collecting information, and once that information is collected we'll be able to open that shaft up again so some work can continue,'' said Robert Quigley, a Cobb County spokesman. Quigley said the load of concrete on the scaffolding and the structure itself will be examined as possible factors in the collapse. Authorities identified the victims as Reginald Washington, 38, of Newnan, and Jose Lazama, 38, of Atlanta. Both men worked for Archer Western Contractors Ltd. Eight workers fell 70 feet to the bottom of the shaft, which also was clogged with heavy timbers, steel and other building materials. The bodies of Washington and Lazama were trapped in hardening wet cement. Washington's body was recovered around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, but Lazama's body was not recovered until 8 a.m. Wednesday because it had to be chiseled out of concrete. The six workers who survived the accident were removed from the bottom of the shaft by crane. One of the survivors, Bwangi Means, 28, of Stone Mountain, was in stable condition Wednesday at Atlanta Medical Center, where he was treated for a head injury. Raul Gomez, 23, of Norcross, was treated there and released Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The other four did not require hospital treatment. The workers were helping build a $128 million project known as the Chattahoochee Interceptor, begun last summer and expected to be completed in the next two years. The 18-foot-diameter rock tunnel will carry sewage underground for more than nine miles to a new treatment center on the Chattahoochee River, Quigley said. The accident occurred at the R.L. Sutton Water Reclamation Facility. The shaft where the men were working was perpendicular to what will be the end of the main tunnel.