A 19-year-old construction worker at the Emerald Forest Apartments was killed April 7 while he was attempting to remove a staircase from a deck.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Fire department officials said Lopez was from Honduras and had been working in the United States for one year. He was supporting a family in Central America.
Authorities said the apartment complex in Mableton is undergoing a remodeling. Workers were tearing down the stairwells when the weight of one section came loose and crushed Lopez to death. Officials said Lopez died of severe head trauma, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.
"They're doing construction on all these back porches and staircases,” said Denell Boyd with the Cobb County Fire Department. “They're old metal stairs, and they're remodeling and adding wood steps. Lopez was checking the stability of one when it fell down and hit him in the head.”
At the scene, most of the black iron staircases remained attached to the facing of the building while one lay crumpled on the ground. Bystanders, many of them Hispanic, wiped away tears as firefighters taped off the debris-strewn accident scene.
Read More About Teen Construction Worker Killed During Staircase Demolition...
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