North Carolina Construction New staff writer
Three construction workers died on Jan. 3 when scaffolding collapsed at a construction site in Charlotte. The men fell about 70 feet when the scaffolding came apart, NBC affiliate WCNC reported.
“Following a scaffolding collapse, there are three casualties,” the Charlotte Fire Department said. “[Two] people have been transported to an area hospital. Currently, Charlotte Fire is securing the area. A family reunification area has been established.”
Fire officials confirmed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating, and work at the site has been halted.
According to OHSA records, more than two dozen incidents in 2022 involved collapsed scaffolding.
At least 16 people have died in scaffolding-related incidents over the past decade across North Carolina, OSHA records show, including:
March 2015 – three workers in Raleigh died and one was injured when a track to a “mast climber” scaffold fell to the ground
- April 2019 – a construction worker in Pine Knoll Shores was installing sheetrock from a scaffolding when a wooden plank shifted and he fell about 16 feet to a concrete floor
- December 2020 – a man working on a scaffold in Timberlake fell when a board he was standing on broke.
- May 2021 – a construction worker in La Grange fell when a scaffold he was standing on collapsed
- February 2022, a man in Jacksonville was walking on a plank that catapulted and he fell 14 feet to his death.