The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Four construction workers were injured, three seriously, after a barrier encasing wet concrete apparently collapsed Wednesday, sending the sludge spilling onto the men as they worked on a housing complex, authorities said.
The concrete was being poured on the roof of the six-story building when it drenched the workers at about 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, burying them in sludge.
Two of the workers fell about 30 feet after being hit, Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.
“They were covered in concrete,” Talmadge said. “Their co-workers uncovered them and pulled them out.”
All four men were taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where three of them were listed in serious condition. A fourth was upgraded to good condition and was set to be released, hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said.
The workers range in age from early 20s to late 30s, Kagan said. Their names have not been released.
While the accident’s exact cause was still being probed, Talmadge said firefighters arriving at the scene believed the form into which the concrete was being poured had collapsed.
State workplace safety investigators and city building inspectors were at the apartment complex in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood to investigate. Work resumed on parts of the $40 million project later Wednesday morning.
The injured men worked for Nibbi Brothers General Contractors of San Francisco. A message left with the company was not immediately returned.
State inspections of the job site in January and July found no safety violations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.