Feds: Elgin Company to Blame for Worker’s Death, Beam Collapse on I-90

An Elgin construction company has been fined over $150,000 after federal regulators determined a 40-ton “overstressed beam” that fell at a construction site on I-90 is to blame for killing a worker at the site this past spring.

Vincente Santoyo, 47, of Berwyn, was killed by the steel beam after it collapsed on April 5 at the construction site on I-90 over Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines. Santoyo, the father of four, was standing in an aerial lift and torch cutting steel bracing between two beams when one of the beams fell, the Daily Herald reports.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Santoyo’s employer, Omega Demolition Corp., for one willful safety violation for overstressing the beam during demolition.

The agency also cited the company for three serious and one other-than-serious health violations following its investigation of the early morning incident that also injured three other workers, according to a news release.

“The fact that this incident was preventable only compounds the tragedy,” said Ken Nishiyama Atha, OSHA’s regional administrator in Chicago. “Federal safety standards for demolition address specific procedures for preventing steel structures from being overstressed, a safety violation that directly contributed to the death of this worker.”

The agency also found Omega Demolition failed to follow OSHA standards for respiratory protection including training workers, fit testing them for the appropriate respirator, maintaining fit test records and ensuring respirators were used in compliance with its certification.

OSHA has proposed penalties of $152,433 for the Elgin-based company and placed it in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. Under the program, OSHA may inspect any of the employer's facilities or job sites if it has reasonable grounds to believe there are similar violations.

The reconstruction project was part of the $2.5 billion Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) Rebuilding and Widening Project now under way, which spans 62 miles.

Omega was removed from all tollway projects following the fatality, Tollway spokesman Dan Rozek told the Daily Herald.

"The tollway offers its deepest sympathies for the families and loved ones of the worker killed in this tragic incident, as well to his co-workers who were injured," Rozek said.

Prior to this inspection, OSHA had inspected Omega Demolition 14 times since 2004 and issued citations in eight of these inspections, according to the OSHA.

Also in recent months, the co-owner of Omega Demolition, James D. Gerage of Barrington Hills, was found dead in a burning car in Chicago, according to the Daily Herald.

More on Patch: Authorities ID Man Found Dead Following Car Fire