Worker’s death brings scrutiny to work area
By Daily Bruin Staff
Aug. 23, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Monday, August 24, 1998
Worker’s death brings scrutiny to work area
DE NEVE: Several agencies search for cause of accident, try to
assess responsibility
By Laura Luu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Construction workers at the DeNeve Plaza work site are
attempting to maintain focus on the task at hand in the aftermath
of tragedy.
Early on the morning of Aug. 15, construction workers were
removing large amounts of dirt from a deep hole near Dykstra Hall
when 19-year-old Jason Drass, a fellow crew member, was struck by a
double-tractor-trailer and killed.
Drass was operating a machine called a loader when he climbed
out of the tractor-trailer. While attempting to walk up a hill, he
fell beneath the trailer while it was still moving forward,
according to Ed Lloyd, a construction manager on the De Neve Plaza
project.
Also called a "bottom dump," the tractor-trailer used to haul
the dirt from the site weighs 30,000 to 35,000 pounds without a
load, according to Bill Bradley, the project manager of the DeNeve
Plaza work site and a representative of Obayashi, the general
contractor.
The trailers were positioned in a line to be loaded when the
accident occurred.
Contractors were reluctant to speculate on what caused the
incident last Saturday morning.
"We don’t know why he got out of that truck," Lloyd said.
According to Nancy Greenstein, director of community relations
for university police, investigations are under way by the Los
Angeles District Attorney, UCPD, the California Division of
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) and the
California Highway Patrol.
The preliminary examination of the truck was conducted by the
investigating parties last Tuesday, with close attention paid to
the brakes in an attempt to unearth the answer to Drass’ fatal
accident.
Since Drass worked in a high-risk environment, the construction
companies are subject to safety regulations.
According to Cal-OSHA, over 36 different articles pertain to the
Construction Safety Orders, from excavations to haulage and
earth-moving, the same kind of activity Drass was involved in early
that Saturday morning.
According to a Cal-OSHA spokesperson, it will take a long time
for Cal-OSHA to go through all these articles to be certain that
all safety requirements were upheld.
Cal-OSHA has 180 days to conduct its investigation, after which
time, if they find violations, they will issue citations against
the employers, which may include the construction companies, and
the university.
The university’s responsibility in the tragedy depends heavily
on who Drass was employed by, the nature of his contract and the
particulars of the incident, which at this time are unclear.
Due to the complexity of the project, specific companies are
hired for individual tasks. The university hired a general
contractor, Obayashi, which in turn hired a sub-contractor,
Shamra.
Shamra is the company responsible for removing and replacing the
dirt at DeNeve Plaza work area. Once the plaza is completed, they
will also be responsible for some landscaping.
Despite the tragic mood cast over the uncompleted structure,
Bradley said he is confident the accident will not affect the
construction efforts at DeNeve Plaza.
Although the construction schedule will continue as planned,
workers took time out to bid farewell to their fellow worker at
Drass’ funeral held last Friday.
After attending the ceremony, the construction workers returned
to work today.
Because of the hazardous nature of the construction industry,
Bradley acknowledged that accidents like this happen "every so
often."
Fortunately, fatal accidents involving workers do not happen
often at UCLA.
Although anywhere from 5 to 20 accidents are reported in any
given day, few end in fatalities, according to Rich Greenwood,
director of Environmental Health and Safety at UCLA.
"In the four years that I have been here, I can’t remember an
incident," Greenwood said.
The last time something of this magnitude took place at UCLA was
during the construction of the Northwest Housing Project.
During the 1990-1994 project, which included the construction of
Sunset Village and Circle Drive, a worker was killed by
electrocution.
Since then, disaster had not occurred at any of the numerous
work sites around UCLA until last Saturday morning.
"Drass was a great kid," Lloyd said. "He really got to
us."CHARLES KUO
A construction worker was killed recently by a truck while
working on the De Neve Plaza site. Investigations into the accident
are pending.
