OSHA finds no violations leading to Strip rescues

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

Investigations into the accidents that prompted two daring rescues hundreds of feet above the Strip in the last couple of months found no violations of safety codes, said the head of Nevada's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"We investigated the incidents and no citations were issued," OSHA chief administrative officer and spokesman Tom Czehowski said Tuesday, referring to a Feb. 25 crane operation rescue at Wynn Las Vegas and a March 1 fall of a worker on the roof of a tower under construction at the Bellagio.

The probe into a third incident, March 16, also at Wynn Las Vegas, where a worker fell off a platform onto the roof after being hit by a hose, remains open. Czehowski said it is OSHA's policy not to discus open cases or to estimate how long an investigation might take.

All three rescues involved the use of a specially trained Clark County Fire Department rescue team. In each case, victims were brought down via cables from several hundred feet.

Although employers and workers were found to not have violated any state safety rules, the mishaps involved apparent errors in judgment.

In the Feb. 25 incident, Jacob Raines, 29, of Jake's Crane Rigging and Transport International, climbed up the crane, opened a small hatch, climbed another three feet to make repairs, then climbed down and fell through the hatch he had left open, dropping about 12 feet to a platform, Czehowski said.

Raines was qualified to be doing the repair work and there were no violations regarding the equipment that could be attributed to the employer or the worker, Czehowski said.

In the March 1 incident, a 31-year-old construction worker for contractor Marnell Corrao, whose name was not released, fell to a concrete panel while working on rebar as he was setting concrete from atop the tower. The results of OSHA's investigation conflict with news accounts that the man fell 20 feet.

"The worker was climbing down the form work on the 27th story and fell about five feet to the concrete floor after missing a rebar rung," Czehowski said, noting that the employer had followed "proper fall protection rules for above six feet."

Czehowski said the worker unsnapped his safety harness below the six-foot level and "just misstepped." There were no violations, Czehowski said.

The March 16 accident occurred when, according to Wynn Las Vegas developer Steve Wynn, a guideline pin holding a cement hose "sheared off" as it was being moved by a crane into place to pour cement on the top floor, causing the hose to hit a worker on a platform "with a glancing blow" and knocking him several feet to the floor. The man's name was not released.