Kaskaskia College President George Evans has provided some additional details about a construction accident at the college on Thursday afternoon.
He reports an investigation indicates a cable being used to lift a 5,000-pound boiler from a driveway by a crane onto a truck snapped, dropping the boiler to the pavement and allowing it to begin rolling away. The injured worker was nearby and couldn’t get out of the way in time and was struck by the boiler.
Evans says the boiler did not land on him and he did not take the impact from the original fall, but still had several broken ribs and a potential concussion. Because the extent of the injuries was not known after initial treatment at the scene by Lifestar Ambulance and the Centralia Fire Protection District, the worker was moved by ambulance to a nearby area where an Air Evac Helicopter had landed to take him to a St. Louis Hospital.
Evans says the old boiler was being removed from inside the Science and Technology building and had been taken as far as the driveway when the accident occurred. He says the boiler is being replaced with a smaller more modern unit as one of the final phases of the renovation of the building.
The incident occurred around 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon.
An employee on a project to remove an old boiler from the Science and Technology building on the main Kaskaskia College campus was seriously injured when the boiler fell on top of him.
Initial information indicates the worker was in an area where the boiler was being removed from a driveway after being taken from its former location inside the building. It was being hoisted by a crane to be put on a truck when the cable lifting it apparently broke.
Centralia Fire Protection District Chief Ross Boshera says the 15 to 20-foot tall piece of equipment was already off the worker upon their arrival and Lifestar Ambulance paramedics were working to assist him.
The worker was transferred by ambulance to an Air Evac helicopter that landed on campus and was flown to a St. Louis hospital with major internal injuries.
The name of the worker has not been released.
The Air Evac helicopter lands at KC to take the injured worker to a St. Louis Hospital after he was struck by a boiler that fell from a crane. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
