LOS ANGELES — An electrician in his second day on the project plunged some 800 feet to his death Thursday from a Los Angeles skyscraper that will be the tallest on the West Coast once it’s completed, officials said.
The worker fell around noon from Wilshire Grand Center onto the back edge of a passing car. It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.
The electrician hit the trunk of the car, which was sitting at the corner Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street with the blanket-covered body and a coroner’s tent hours later. The car did not appear to be badly damaged.
The woman who was driving did not appear to be seriously hurt but was taken to a hospital, city fire officials said.
The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it’s completed. A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.
The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.
Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management which is supervising the construction, says there were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place.
He and police did not immediately say whether the man had a safety harness on as is required on the project. The floor from which he fell, the 53rd, has no windows.
Martin said all of the building’s 891 workers had undergone training.
“There’s safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there’s very specialized training. So these are all smart people,” Martin said. “We had no injuries up to this date.”
Work has been shut down for the day.
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