5-TON MACHINE KILLS FOREMAN.Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer A construction foreman In construction, the foreman is the worker or tradesman who is in charge of the construction crew. Generally a construction worker with many years of experience and talent, the foreman is a wealth of knowledge and a key asset to the project. who hopped into a trench to check on a malfunctioning boring machine boring machine Machine tool for producing smooth and accurate holes in a workpiece by enlarging existing holes with a cutting tool, which may bear a single tip of steel, cemented carbide, or diamond or may be a small grinding wheel. was crushed to death Wednesday when the 5-ton device suddenly came off its track and hit him, officials said. The victim was identified as Mitchell Williams, 42, of Madera, said Sgt. Rick Young of the Glendale Police Department. Officials said the father of three was working on a segment of a 132-mile pipeline that will carry crude oil from Kern County to Wilmington refineries when the incident occurred about 10 a.m. Co-workers at the site, near West Broadway and San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, where upon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State (I-5) and the in Glendale, tried to revive Williams, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, said David Starr David Starr (born October 11, 1967 in Houston, Texas) is a driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He made his first start in 1998 and got his first win in 2002 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on his way to his best points finish, 5th. He grabbed 2 more wins in 2004. , a Glendale Fire Department battalion chief. ``His co-workers attempted to provide CPR Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Definition Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a procedure to support and maintain breathing and circulation for a person who has stopped breathing (respiratory arrest) and/or whose heart has stopped (cardiac , but it was a futile effort,'' Starr said. Starr said the victim had jumped into the trench to check on a problem with the machine when the incident occurred. ``It wasn't working,'' Starr said. ``The boring machine was on a track. It came off a track. He was crushed by it.'' Although Cal-OSHA and the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County District Attorney's Office each launched investigations into the incident, Starr said a preliminary inquiry concluded it was caused by equipment failure. Williams worked for about five years as a foreman for Walter C. Smith, a Clovis-based contractor and construction company with 25 employees, said Mike DeBenedetto, the company's vice president. ``He was a good employee. He was a very nice fellow,'' DeBenedetto said. ``He will be sorely missed by this company and his family.'' DeBenedetto said Williams had experience working with the boring equipment, but declined further comment. The company was hired by ARB, the Lake Forest-based contractor that is building the pipeline for Pacific Pipeline System Inc., which is owned by the Anschutz Corp. of Denver. Don Caswell, a construction and inspection coordinator for Pacific Pipeline, said the fatality was the first in the building of the $170 million pipeline, which will pump 130,000 barrels of oil a day through a 20-inch-wide conduit when completed. Darryl Oscars, a safety inspector for ARB, said he had visited the site Tuesday and found one small safety problem. A fire extinguisher fire extinguisher: see fire fighting. that should have been inside the trench was above ground, but the problem was corrected, he said. All other equipment, including the boring machine, which is equipped with a metal drill bit that digs through earth, appeared to be working fine, Oscars said. Williams was part of a two-person boring crew working on a stretch of the pipeline between the Glendale Freeway The Glendale Freeway is a minor freeway in the Los Angeles, California, USA, metropolitan area. It runs from Glendale Boulevard in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles to Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge. Throughout its length, it is signed as California State Route 2. and Hubbard Street Hubbard Street is a road in Chicago, Illinois named for early settler Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard. Where Hubbard Street passes over the Kennedy Expressway, the Expressway enters a tunnel made up of surface streets known as colloquially as "Hubbard's Cave. for several months. The project has raised the ire of many residents who fear the conduit, which will snake through Los Angeles communities including Sylmar, San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. , Pacoima and Sun Valley, could rupture, threatening their neighborhoods. Pacific Pipeline officials have maintained that the line, expected to be completed in August, is safe and poses far less of a hazard to residents than having trucks hauling the crude oil traveling over area freeways. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Firefighters lift the body of Mitchell Williams, 42, from the pipeline trench in Glendale where he was killed Wednesday. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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