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Construction Worker Falls To His Death From 53rd Floor Of Wilshire Grand Tower [UPDATE]
A construction worker on the Wilshire Grand tower fell to his death this afternoon and hit a passing car below.
Firefighters responded to the the scene near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street just after 12:30 p.m., Thursday afternoon. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body hit a passing car driving on Wilshire Boulevard. An alert from the Los Angeles Fire Department says the man fell from the 53rd floor of the construction site.
Traffic is being diverted in the area, as officials have closed Wilshire Boulevard, 7th Street, Figueroa Street and Flower Street in the immediate area.
Eyewitnesses say the man fell to his death at 12:08 p.m., according to the L.A. Times. The woman whose car was hit by the body was checked by firefighters, but determined to be unharmed. "She not injured—she is scared," Los Angeles Fire Department Margaret Stewart told the Times.
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When completed, the Wilshire Grand tower will be the West Coast's tallest building. Just last week, the site celebrated its "topping out," when it's "central core" was completed.
Update [3:35]: Although the worker has not yet been identified, a Cal/OSHA official said he was "an electrician from ASSI." The L.A. Times reports that the man was found with no tethering harness on his body—required by all workers at the site—nor was a hard hat found where he fell.
The worksite is closed for the rest of the day and for the next two days as OSHA conducts an investigation. Turner Construction Co., who is managing the site, released the following statement:
We were deeply saddened to learn that we have lost a member of the team building the Wilshire Grand Center. Our thoughts and prayers are with the worker's family. On any given day, there are 1,000 men and women working on this project. The entire team working on this project is committed to the safety of all of our workers, and we will do everything we can to understand what happened here today and prevent it from happening again.
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