city of auburndale project : Man is killed when he's pinned by machine's bucket.
AUBURNDALE | A 42-year-old Auburndale construction worker died Thursday at the city's wastewater treatment plant when he was pinned between a concrete wastewater junction box and the bucket of a trackhoe.Mark Ingram was assisting co-workers in preparations to lower the hollow junction box into the ground about 8:30 a.m. when the trackhoe shifted, crushing him against the concrete box.
Ingram, who was working for Indian River Industrial Contractors, died at the scene, said Auburndale police Lt. Thrasey Tucker. "This was purely an accident," he said. "From a law-enforcement perspective, there is no foul play, nothing of a criminal nature."
Tucker said crews were using a trackhoe, which is similar to a backhoe but with tank-like tracks instead of tires, to lower the junction box into the ground. The box was at ground level next to the hole. A co-worker left the cab of the trackhoe to help Ingram, who was hooking cables connecting the junction box to the trackhoe.
"The trackhoe kept moving," Tucker said, "and the bucket pinned (Ingram,) crushing him."
Investigators with the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration initiated an independent investigation Thursday to see if the company violated any safety standards. Tucker said no city employees were involved in the construction project at the plant at 890 Braddock Road.
The city is doubling the capacity of its wastewater treatment plant from 2 million gallons per day to 4 million gallons.
