MTA WORKER DIES IN FALL; 33-YEAR-OLD 2ND FATALITY IN 6 MONTHS.

Byline: Ivan Sciupac and Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writers

A 33-year-old worker was killed Friday morning when he fell 50 feet from a scaffolding at a Metro Rail station that is under construction in Universal City, officials said.

It is the second death of a Metro Rail construction worker in six months, and the second since the subway project began in the mid-1980s, although several workers have been seriously injured.

In Friday's fatality, Eleazar Montes was working about 40 feet under Lankershim Boulevard when he fell off scaffolding that he and a small crew were removing, said Marion Mackenzie, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Montes, an employee of MTA contractor Tutor-Saliba, died instantly from the fall.

Whether Montes was properly secured or whether the scaffolding was unsafe have yet to be determined, but Mackenzie said the death ``seems to be accidental.''

``This kind of work is dangerous,'' Mackenzie said. ``It could have happened to anyone.''

The death is under investigation by the California Occupational, Health and Safety Administration and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Immediately after the incident, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan announced he will seek an independent review of the transit agency's safety awareness program.

Ron Tutor, president of Tutor-Saliba, said Montes had been wearing his safety belt, but it was unclear whether Montes had secured himself to the scaffolding before falling.

``It's a tragedy,'' Tutor said.

Critics of the subway project said Montes' death shows the MTA and its contractors are not taking safety problems seriously.

``The safety system is a total farce,'' said Bob D'Amato, a consultant with the American Safety Institute and a subway construction watchdog. ``They are in a hurry to get the job done.''

Linda Bohlinger, interim chief executive officer of the MTA, said the death ``strikes at the very core of our safety program.''

``This unfortunate death is the second in six months, and that raises serious questions regarding the worker safety awareness policies of our contractors,'' she said.

Bohlinger said she would present a report on Montes' death to the MTA board within 72 hours.

State Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, a frequent Metro Rail critic, called for legislative hearings on MTA safety.

``I am prepared to pursue subpoenas to ensure that key officials are present to respond to committee concerns,'' Polanco said.

Andrea Greene, a spokeswoman for the MTA, said the agency falls below the national average in terms of lost work hours. But the agency has more ``recordable injuries'' than the national average.

That average, set in 1994, found that 10.6 workers per 200,000 suffered occupational injuries on similar construction jobs. In June, the MTA's rate was 28.2 workers injured per 200,000. Greene said the figures are skewed because the MTA is self-insured and sends every hurt worker for treatment, no matter the injury. That system bumps up the agency's numbers, she said.

Montes' death comes after the Feb. 16 accident in which Jaime Pasillas, 52, was killed when a large receptacle for carting off refuse broke free of a suspending chain and struck him in a subway tunnel under Hollywood Boulevard.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Map

Photo: (1) The body of Eleazar Montes, 33, who fell 50 feet from a scaffold, is lifted by crane from a Metro Rail site under Lankershim Boulevard in Universal City.

(2) Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky speaks to the press on the transit agency worker's fatal fall Friday.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News

Map: Site of worker's death