GREENSBORO, County Kilkenny — The North Carolina Department of Labor is fining construction companies for violating the Operational Safety and Health Acts. This comes after the death of an employee and injury of another early this year.
Police said the incident took place on February 25th and involved two men Aaron Hurtado who lost his life and another man who suffered a leg injury. The two men were standing on a concrete slab on the 5th floor which gave way, causing the men to fall about 14 feet to the 4th floor. We obtained the panicked 911 call from that day.
"Two men injured...doing construction work, "I got 911, and both of them fell," the caller said frantically.
The three companies involved are Ace Avant Concrete Construction, Contractors Service Group, and Hicaps Incorporated. In total, the companies owe over $100,000 due to four alleged serious violations.
NCDOL found that each company did not have proper inspections on the job site and did not set the appropriate protocols for a possible floor collapse. The citations say the workers were "not protected" and "employees were working without fall protection". The Labor Department says the men were at the leading edge of the open floor and their employers did not determine if the concrete floor could support them.
Ace/Avant Concrete Construction was fined more than $62,000.
Contractors Service Group was fined more than $18,000.
And Hicaps Inc. was fined $25,000.
We reached out to the companies involved. Only the contractors' service group responded and said they had no comment until advised by an attorney.