Update: Construction Worker Crushed by Rolling Pipe; Victim Identified

Photo: Construction site where a worker was killed by a rolling pipe. Credit via Twitter @abc7news BayArea

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Update:

The Sonoma County coroner’s office has identified a construction worker who died when he was crushed by an 8,000-pound rolling metal pipe in Petaluma this morning as 28-year-old Jared Overfield of Novato.

Overfield was an employee of the San Rafael-based Maggiora & Ghilotti Inc. engineering contractor firm.

He was working on a construction site in the area of Kastania Road and Petaluma Boulevard South west of U.S. Highway 101 where workers were moving a 40-foot pipe weighing approximately 8,000 pounds with a forklift,
Sonoma County sheriff’s Sgt. Cecile Focha said.

Overfield was in front of the forklift when the pipe rolled and crushed him underneath, Focha said. The Petaluma Fire Department pronounced him dead at 7 a.m. Focha said.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the circumstances surrounding the worksite death and whether there were violations of industry regulations, policy or procedure, Focha said.

A spokesman for Maggiora & Ghilotti said he had no comment on the death.

Earlier:

A 33-year-old Santa Rosa man died when he was crushed by a large metal pipe at a construction site west of U.S. Highway 101 in Petaluma this morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A forklift operator set the pipe on the ground and it rolled toward an embankment. The victim died when he tried to stop the rolling pipe, CHP Officer Kerri Post said.

• Update: Construction Worker Killed on Highway 101

According to state Division of Occupational Safety and Health officials, the incident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. on Kastania Road.

The victim was a pipe layer, according to Post. His name was not immediately released.

Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies and Cal/OSHA are investigating the death, Post said.

--Bay City News

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