ARLINGTON — Three workers at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium construction site were injured Thursday — one critically — when they jumped off a crane cab to avoid cables and other equipment falling from another crane, the project’s general contractor said.
One worker was taken by CareFlite helicopter to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and two others were transported to the same hospital by ambulance, Arlington Fire Department officials said. The accident happened a day after a worker was killed in a crane accident at a construction site behind the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas.
Jack Hill, Cowboys construction manager, said he could not comment on the extent of the injuries but said all three men were conscious.
“Unfortunately, they were injured,” Mr. Hill said. “We’re praying and keeping our fingers crossed.”
Mayor Robert Cluck said that although he wishes accidents like Thursday’s didn’t happen, they are almost inevitable with massive construction projects.
“A big project like this with lots of moving parts, lots of big machines, is a high risk and there are injuries that occur,” Mr. Cluck said. “You wish you could build a big stadium like this without any injuries, but it’s not going to happen with this one.”
Thursday’s accident happened about 2 p.m. between the stadium’s dual arches just outside the northeast end zone. The workers were assembling a crane when a cable connector “failed” on the erecting crane, which allowed the cables and some other parts to fall, according to a written statement from Manhattan Construction.
The names of the workers were not released Thursday, but all three were employees of Derr Steel Erection Company of Euless, a subcontractor on the project. Mr. Hill said the workers were all wearing protective equipment at the time.
This is the third high-profile accident during construction of the $1.1 billion stadium, but there have been no fatalities. In August, a construction worker was injured after being struck in the back with crane cables while on an upper deck of the new stadium. A worker also fell 20 feet from scaffolding onto the field in January 2007.
Steve Quirk, a community development and planning employee for the city of Arlington, said last week in a speech to the Dallas and Fort Worth chapters of the American Society of Civil Engineers that Manhattan has a very good safety record. He said then that those were the only two major injuries during the stadium’s construction and that both employees were back at work.
On Wednesday, Omar Wray, 37, of Irving, was killed at a construction site on Maple Avenue when he was struck by the crane’s hook that broke loose and fell on him. The TXI employee was apparently washing out a cement-mixer truck when he was struck.
Construction safety has been in the news recently, particularly after eight people were killed in a pair of recent crane accidents in New York City.
In light of this week’s crane incidents, QUOIN, a local chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, plans to meet with area general contractors to talk about crane safety . The goal is to discuss what can be done to prevent future crane accidents, said Raleigh Roussell, QUOIN’s president and CEO.
“There have been too many accidents,” Mr. Roussell said. “There’s something going on and we’re going to look at some type of solutions or actions that we can take to stem what’s happening. … We need to start comparing notes and gather as much of the details of each accident to see where there is a common thread.”
