Officials in Miller, Long & Arnold, a Halethorpe branch of the Bethesda-based Miller & Long Concrete Construction, did not respond to requests for comment.
"We hired them because they are the experts" in crane operation, Lauren McDonald, a spokeswoman for Bozzuto, said of Miller, Long & Arnold.
Employees attend weekly mandatory "Toolbox Talks" that are translated into Spanish and cover site-specific and general issues, that company's Web site states.
Miller, Long & Arnold has been cited for safety violations twice in the past three years, according to U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration records. The records show that a complaint was lodged against the company in 2005, prompting a $4,225 fine. And in February 2007, they were fined $825 for a construction safety violation found during a planned inspection.
Safety and health officials visited the Towne Centre site three times last year, uncovering five citations, according to the state occupational safety office. None was crane-related, and Miller, Long & Arnold was not among the companies cited.
Workers from a nearby takeout pizza shop, fondue restaurant and bank, accustomed to hearing the racket of bulldozers and groan of cranes at the construction site, knew something had gone wrong when there was silence a little after 9 yesterday morning.
One of the project supervisors on the site, who declined to give his name, looked from his pickup truck as rescue workers pried a colleague out of the arm of the crane high in the air.
He watched through a pair of binoculars and muttered over and over, "A man died here today." justin.fenton@baltsun.com
ruma.kumar@baltsun.com
Sun reporter David Zenlea contributed to this article.
