State investigates companies involved in fatal Seattle crane accident
The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating five companies involved in Saturday's fatal construction crane accident in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.
The companies under investigation are crane operator provider Seaburg Construction of Woodinville; Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., a Des Moines company that specializes in erecting and dismantling cranes; Omega Morgan, a Portland-area company that transports equipment and rigging; Bellevue-based GLY Construction, the builder of the Google campus; and Salem, Oregon-headquartered Morrow Equipment Co., which distributes, owns and operates tower cranes.
"When something like this happens we are out there right away," said DLI spokesman Tim Church. DLI must conclude all inquiries within six months. "In a complex investigation like this it will take most of, if not all, of the six months."
Former Seattle deputy planning director Alan Justad, 71, was among the four people who were killed. He was one of two people in cars crushed by the crane, which fell as it was dismantled at the Google campus at Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue North.
Also killed were Sarah Wong, a 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student who was in a car, and two ironworkers, 31-year-old Andrew Yoder of North Bend, and 33-year-old Travis Corbet of Oregon, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said. Three people were hospitalized.
Church said the crane was certified for use on the site on June 30, 2018. Workers were using a smaller crane to dismantle the tower crane.
Conditions were windy, said Jake Thomson of Seattle, a passenger in a car just ahead of one vehicle struck by the crane. He was riding with his roommate, Sarah Whitney, as she drove them home from a coffee shop when they heard the crash. One vehicle "was completely smashed in half," said Thomson who said he thought the entire building was coming down.
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