It's Coming

It's Coming
Channel 4 helps protect your ID

°

Homepage / Jacksonville News
Text Size

Report: Garage That Collapsed Had Flaws

Report Says Many To Blame For Downtown Garage That Collapsed In 2007

POSTED: Friday, August 28, 2009

Channel 4 has obtained a new report on the government's investigation of the deadly downtown garage collapse in 2007.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration report said there was a "plague" of errors in the construction and there are many people to blame for the collapse.

The garage for the then-new Berkman Plaza high rise collapsed early in the morning on Dec. 6, 2007, killing 26-year-old Willie Edwards III and injuring 23 workers.

Edwards was a father of two children.

Edwards' family watched and waited for more than 48 hours as searchers scoured the rubble.

Garage Collapse 2007
"Praying and hoping he's alive," a family member said at the time. "All we can do is wait."

The report blames the engineers who designed the garage, the contractors who disregarded the plans and the inspector who didn't notice the critical problems.

According to the report, structural supports were removed from the first and second floors while construction was underway. That was a violation of OSHA's standard.

The report said if the contractor had not removed the supports, the incident would not have occurred, despite the flawed structural design.

Because those supports were missing, the weight on the third floor was 300 percent greater than it should have been.

According to the report, the fact that the supports were missing, "Was in plain sight of everyone involved."

More Online: Final OSHA Report On Berkman Plaza II Parking Garage Collapse (PDF file)

The views expressed are not those of News4Jax.com, WJXT or its affiliated companies. This is a community moderated forum. (Please note the 'Like' and 'Report' tabs.) By posting your comments you agree to accept our Terms of Use.

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

Sponsored Links

Links We Like

Sponsored Content
Check out our picks for the most luxurious and unique homes that were on the market in 2009. More

Find out what a sputtering economy and an increasingly difficult to crack job market means to you. More

The following tips can help your car become a less inviting target and slow down, discourage or actually prevent car theft. More

Believing urban legends about sex could be hurting your sex life. Get the truth behind common sex myths. More

Most Popular