Vegas: Amid pressure to finish massive projects, 9 men have died in 16 months (feature story & video

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/30/construction-deaths/

By Alexandra Berzon

Sun, Mar 30, 2008 (2 a.m.)

The luxurious casino Cesar Pelli designed for CityCenter is morphing day by day into the soaring blend of curves and glass the architect envisioned. But on Oct. 5, it was still an unrecognizable shell of steel columns and shiny corrugated metal.

About 20 cranes would have been in the sky that day, the ground a maze of trucks and equipment and thousands of tradesmen stacked above one another inside building frames where work went on around the clock. They were busy building a casino and six adjacent high-rise structures, the most expensive private commercial development in U.S. history.

It was here that Harold Billingsley found himself 59 feet above the ground floor, walking in his brown ironworking boots on uneven temporary decking. He was heading to pick up extra bolts for his crew, his family believes. He stumbled.

Ordinarily, he would simply have fallen onto the decking. But at this exact moment in that exact spot, the decking contained a 3-by-11-foot hole that state investigators later said should not have existed.

Ironworkers wear safety harnesses for times like this. An attached cable is supposed to stop a plunge. Billingsley’s was not attached.

Safety regulations called for a temporary floor or netting no more than two stories down, a last chance to break his fall. None existed.

FULL story and video at link.

[Beregond2]

1. Vegas

The explosive growth of Vegas baffles me. It is unbearably hot. It is located in the desert a long way from anything else. It is ugly as sin. It has no natural assets of any kind. It's entire economy is dependent on gambling, which is now available all over the country. It consumes enormous amounts of water and electricity, in a region that is already having conflicts over water. And yet, they keep granting permits for more and more construction. Bizaare.