Litigation Michael Vieira | 09 Aug 2009 07:51 am
Lawsuit Filed Over Death of Worker at MGM’s CityCenter Citing Safety Concerns With LEED Project
The family of a construction worker killed last year in a construction accident at MGM Mirage’s CityCenter are suing over his death.
The family reportedly attributes the death to unrealistic deadlines for the project’s completion and “shoddy” safety practices. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the developer (MGM Mirage), the general contractor (Perini Building Co.) and the company operating the crane that killed the worker (Dielco Crane Service) all were negligent in their “hiring, training and supervision of employees.”
CityCenter is a 68-acre, $11 billion project aiming to achieve a combination of LEED silver and gold certifications across the various hotels, residences and commercial buildings making up the project.
Dielco, the crane operator has been investigated for multiple safety violations and was fined $12,000 by the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration for a series of violations, including failing to instruct employees to sound a horn before swinging the crane.
As previously discussed, LEED credits are not awarded for the implementation of safety training programs under the current version of LEED. Nevertheless, safety training is an integral part of developing a skilled green collar workforce (the Wall Street Journal reports that CityCenter introduced more than 10,000 construction trade and craftsmen to green building techniques).
Unsafe working conditions exposes stakeholders to liability. This is a risk in all construction projects, not only green developments. In green projects, however, additional factors come into play. For instance, often new technologies and construction materials are being implemented, which untrained workers may not be accustomed to applying. Also, incentives such as tax credits could create time pressures to meet certain deadlines and to complete construction. The combination of these factors makes green buildings particularly open to risk. Properly evaluating such risk and planning for potential liability is essential before breaking ground on the construction project.
on 23 Jan 2010 at 10:42 am 1.Green Buildings Not Currently Leading to Increased Health and Safety of Construction Workers | Hawaii Green Building Law said …
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