Monday, August 24, 1998
Worker's death brings scrutiny to work area
DE NEVE: Several agencies search for cause of accident, try to assess responsibility
By Laura Luu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Construction workers at the DeNeve Plaza work site are attempting to maintain focus on the task at hand in the aftermath of tragedy.
Early on the morning of Aug. 15, construction workers were removing large amounts of dirt from a deep hole near Dykstra Hall when 19-year-old Jason Drass, a fellow crew member, was struck by a double-tractor-trailer and killed.
Drass was operating a machine called a loader when he climbed out of the tractor-trailer. While attempting to walk up a hill, he fell beneath the trailer while it was still moving forward, according to Ed Lloyd, a construction manager on the De Neve Plaza project.
Also called a "bottom dump," the tractor-trailer used to haul the dirt from the site weighs 30,000 to 35,000 pounds without a load, according to Bill Bradley, the project manager of the DeNeve Plaza work site and a representative of Obayashi, the general contractor.
The trailers were positioned in a line to be loaded when the accident occurred.
Contractors were reluctant to speculate on what caused the incident last Saturday morning.
"We don't know why he got out of that truck," Lloyd said.
According to Nancy Greenstein, director of community relations for university police, investigations are under way by the Los Angeles District Attorney, UCPD, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) and the California Highway Patrol.
The preliminary examination of the truck was conducted by the investigating parties last Tuesday, with close attention paid to the brakes in an attempt to unearth the answer to Drass' fatal accident.
Since Drass worked in a high-risk environment, the construction companies are subject to safety regulations.
According to Cal-OSHA, over 36 different articles pertain to the Construction Safety Orders, from excavations to haulage and earth-moving, the same kind of activity Drass was involved in early that Saturday morning.
According to a Cal-OSHA spokesperson, it will take a long time for Cal-OSHA to go through all these articles to be certain that all safety requirements were upheld.
Cal-OSHA has 180 days to conduct its investigation, after which time, if they find violations, they will issue citations against the employers, which may include the construction companies, and the university.
The university's responsibility in the tragedy depends heavily on who Drass was employed by, the nature of his contract and the particulars of the incident, which at this time are unclear.
Due to the complexity of the project, specific companies are hired for individual tasks. The university hired a general contractor, Obayashi, which in turn hired a sub-contractor, Shamra.
Shamra is the company responsible for removing and replacing the dirt at DeNeve Plaza work area. Once the plaza is completed, they will also be responsible for some landscaping.
Despite the tragic mood cast over the uncompleted structure, Bradley said he is confident the accident will not affect the construction efforts at DeNeve Plaza.
Although the construction schedule will continue as planned, workers took time out to bid farewell to their fellow worker at Drass' funeral held last Friday.
After attending the ceremony, the construction workers returned to work today.
Because of the hazardous nature of the construction industry, Bradley acknowledged that accidents like this happen "every so often."
Fortunately, fatal accidents involving workers do not happen often at UCLA.
Although anywhere from 5 to 20 accidents are reported in any given day, few end in fatalities, according to Rich Greenwood, director of Environmental Health and Safety at UCLA.
"In the four years that I have been here, I can't remember an incident," Greenwood said.
The last time something of this magnitude took place at UCLA was during the construction of the Northwest Housing Project.
During the 1990-1994 project, which included the construction of Sunset Village and Circle Drive, a worker was killed by electrocution.
Since then, disaster had not occurred at any of the numerous work sites around UCLA until last Saturday morning.
"Drass was a great kid," Lloyd said. "He really got to us."CHARLES KUO
A construction worker was killed recently by a truck while working on the De Neve Plaza site. Investigations into the accident are pending.