A construction worker died yesterday after being crushed in a crane high above a building site near Annapolis in an accident that comes as state officials are looking for ways to tighten safety regulations for such heavy equipment.
The laborer, identified by police as Denis Umanzor, 44, of Silver Spring, was killed while working at Annapolis Towne Centre, a $400 million residential, office and shopping complex under construction in Parole. Although authorities have yet to determine what went wrong, a portion of a crane apparently came loose and pinned Umanzor as it was being dismantled - a step described by experts as particularly risky.
Police and fire rescue workers were called about 9:15 a.m. to the Parole construction site, where a project foreman had reported a worker trapped 200 feet in the air. Rescue workers found the man was dead by the time they reached him. It took an hour and a half to free his body and bring it to the ground.
The incident comes about six weeks after fatal crane collapses in New York and Miami. In response, a Maryland committee for weeks has been exploring options to tighten crane regulations for the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency, state officials said.
Labor and Industry Commissioner James R. "Ron" DeJuliis, a former crane operator, said he has been worried about crane safety since he took his position last February. He said 50 inspectors were sent out last week to a training site to learn more about safety related to cranes.
"It's very dangerous for everyone concerned," DeJuliis said of working on cranes. "You're up in the air, walking around on steel."
Roger Campbell, assistant labor commissioner in charge of the occupational safety agency, added, "We have been particularly concerned about the erection and disassembly of tower cranes. That's the most hazardous time, when you're putting it up and taking it down."
One rule change being considered, Campbell said, would require contractors to notify the state when they plan to set up or disassemble a crane.
Maryland is one of at least four states to take steps to improve construction site safety after the crane accidents in New York and Miami.
A 20-story crane toppled at a New York City work site March 15, demolishing a four-story town house and killing seven people. Ten days later, a section of a crane fell 30 floors and smashed through the Spanish-tiled roof of a two-story house in Miami, killing two and injuring five.
