YOLO COUNTY —
A construction worker injured on the site of the Davis-Woodland Water Intake project was lifted out of a 40-foot deep coffer dam by Woodland fire fighters on Tuesday. The site is on the Sacramento River near Interstate 5, north of Sacramento International Airport.
The call first came in as a man stuck in a well, and a rescue protocol was started. But it turns out the coffer dam, a structure designed to keep back the waters of the Sacramento river while workers work below the waterline, had much more room to work.
Battalion Chief Rick Sander said something fell from the top of the structure hitting the victim in the back.
“He was conscious and alert the whole time but in a lot of pain and having some difficulty breathing because of the injury,” Sander said.
Steel worker Daniel Catalano said he was told that a tag line used to control the load of one of the cranes got caught on some scaffolding and ripped it apart. Part of the scaffolding may have hit the victim.
“It’s just the hazards of the job,” said Catalano, who said he thinks about safety all the time.
Firefighters used a large crane to lift the victim 40 feet out of the hole to a waiting ambulance. Fire officials say he was in stable condition.
The contractor, Balfour-Beatty, is a global firm that has a good safety record.
It did not release the name of the injured worker and told FOX40 that it was investigating the accident.
Fire officials say that they will notify Cal OSHA, which will undertake it’s own review of the incident.
