LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - The family of a man who died after working on the Milton-Madison Bridge Project is angry with the construction company he worked for. WDRB has discovered he is not the only worker recently killed while working for Walsh Construction.
We talked with family members of the local man who was killed, who are concerned about how Walsh Construction handles safety regulations. "I feel that Walsh construction is trying to hide something," said Tim Cox, brother of Roger Cox, who died May 3.
Tim Cox is furious that he cannot get any answers about his brother Roger's death.
He says on April 30th Roger Cox was in a terrible accident while working on the Milton-Madison Bridge project. "He was pinned between the top beam on the bridge 68 feet off the ground between the beam and the basket. nobody knows how long he was out of oxygen," Cox said during a phone interview.
Roger's family is now questioning Walsh Construction's safety procedures. "According to OSHA, it's a three-man operation. there's supposed to be two people in the basket and one on the ground called the fireguard around the basket at all times," explained Cox.
Tim says Roger was pulled off life support just days later. His brother was a welder for about 25 years, and loved it. But Tim says the family was worried about this job with Walsh. "His wife was concerned, she said he was only getting three-hour breaks. They'd send him home, get about three hours rest, and send them back to work," said Cox.
Just a week before, another Walsh Construction worker died while working on a project in Indianapolis, caught underneath a 40,000 pound excavator.
Indiana OSHA confirms it is investigating both cases. WDRB has requested documents from OSHA, which could take weeks to get. "Walsh Construction is not cooperating with OSHA, they're not cooperating with anybody."
Walsh Construction has not returned phone calls from WDRB seeking comment. "What happened? What happened? Why wasn't someone following guidelines? Safety guidelines?" Cox asked frantically.
Roger's dad tells me OSHA removed the bucket crane from the project site to run tests on it.
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