Fayetteville Worker Shocked By Power Line

Fayetteville firefighters work Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, to lower a Naylor Concrete employee who was shocked while pouring a concrete slab at The Cardinal apartment complex, located at the corner of Duncan Avenue and Center Street. The worker was transported to the Washington Regional Medical Center.

Fayetteville firefighters work Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, to lower a Naylor Concrete employee who was shocked while pouring a concrete slab at The Cardinal apartment complex, located at the corner of Duncan Avenue and Center Street. The worker was transported to the Washington Regional Medical Center.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

FAYETTEVILLE — A construction worker was shocked by a high-voltage power line Friday at The Cardinal apartment complex at Duncan Avenue and Center Street, said Mauro Campos, fire battalion chief.

Firefighters used a ladder to lower the man about 20 feet from the top of the building. He was loaded into an ambulance about 4:15 p.m.

Campos said paramedics with Central Emergency Medical Services used a defibrillator to start the man’s heart before taking him to Washington Regional Medical Center.

“Paramedics worked on him and performed CPR to get him stabilized,” Campos said.

Campos wouldn’t identify the man.

Construction on the 471-bedroom complex began last spring. Developers with Specialized Real Estate Group have said they hope to open the complex in time for the fall 2014 semester at the University of Arkansas.

The Fayetteville-based company is partnering on the project with Capstone Development Partners of Birmingham, Ala.

Indiana-based Thompson Thrift Construction is the lead contractor on the project.

Jerry Ennis, vice president and director of Thompson Thrift, said the injured worker is employed by Naylor Concrete, a subcontractor for the development.

Ennis said he didn’t know the name of the employee.

“He was pouring an elevated concrete slab and a tool he was using came into contact with an electric wire,” Ennis said Friday evening. “He’s at the hospital and seems to be responding.”

Ennis said the construction company is doing an “exhaustive investigation” as to what happened.

“The only concern we have at this point in time is for the Naylor employee’s condition,” he said.

Friday’s incident was one of several construction accidents in Fayetteville during the past year.

Federal safety authorities levied more than $33,000 in fines against two contractors in connection with the June death of a worker at The Vue apartments on Stadium Drive across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Fayetteville High School.

Jess Wilson, 44, of Joplin, Mo., died June 9 after being electrocuted at the apartment complex construction site.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Parkcrest Builders Group of Houston on Sept. 16 with four serious violations and proposed a fine of $4,900 for each violation.

OSHA also cited WW Enterprises in Anderson, Mo., with five serious violations and proposed fines of $2,800 for each.

Brannon Rhine, 20, of Springdale, was working on a ditch for underground sewer lines at The Vue when the trench collapsed, burying him alive May 5.

OSHA issued a $7,600 fine to Houston-based Business Construction Services, an electrical subcontractor, in connection with the trench collapse.

The Vue, which is a 656-bed, 180-unit development, is a joint venture between University Student Living in New Jersey and ParkGreen Properties in Houston.