3 injured in northwest Miami-Dade construction accident

Scissor lifts apparently topple over at construction site

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. ā€“ Three workers were injured Thursday morning in a construction accident in northwest Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Felipe Lay said.

Sky 10 was above the scene as the workers were laid out on stretchers at a construction site on Northwest 57th Avenue.

Two scissor lifts were on their side and appeared to have toppled over.

Rescuers used a ladder truck to lower each worker to the ground from the fourth floor of the building under construction, which took a little more than an hour.Ā 

"We evaluate our options on how we're going to get them back to grade," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Jeff Strickland said. "This one we chose to bring in our 100-foot platform truck and put the patients in a stokes basket, stabilized them, put them on our aerial hydraulic platform and brought them down to the ground."

Two of the workers were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. A third worker was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center. All three were considered trauma alerts, but their injuries were not immediately known.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

"Our top corporate value is the safety and well-being of all employees working on our project sites. Brasfield & Gorrie is diligently working with local authorities to assess the situation that occurred this morning, in which three workers were injured when two scissor lifts fell," the company said in a statement to Local 10 News. "The injured workers were employed by our subcontractors, who are also participating in the investigation. We are relieved that the subcontractor employees are all reported to be in stable condition, but we will continue to monitor their progress and keep them and their families in our prayers."


About the Authors:

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.