A construction accident at the future home of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts killed one man and critically injured a second this afternoon.
A portable boom lift with a basket on top toppled over about 1:45 p.m. just north of the building under construction at 16th Street and Broadway. Both workers were in the basket before it plummeted about 50 feet to the pavement, said Kyle McQuiston with J.E. Dunn Construction Co.
The workers apparently fell from the basket on the way down, police said.
The injured workers were taken to area hospitals. One died at the hospital, Kansas City police said. The other was conscious in serious condition this afternoon, police said.
Officials with Midwest Steel, where the men worked, were trying to contact their families this afternoon. The men had been putting beams on the structure, McQuiston said. The lift’s base was parked on street level, and the boom had been extended to 50 feet before the accident, he said.
It was unclear why the lift toppled, he said. It is designed to work with the basket extended.
No other workers witnessed the machine’s collapse, said Officer Darin Snapp, a police department spokesman. Other workers heard the sound of it falling and went to help the injured men.
“It failed somehow and tipped,” Snapp said. “The construction workers fell out onto the pavement.”
Officials halted other construction activity at the site this afternoon. Kansas City police were investigating, and officials from the Occupational Health & Safety Administration were on their way to the scene.
Police closed Broadway for about 15 minutes. One northbound lane remained closed after police opened the other lanes shortly after 2 p.m.
| Sara Shepherd, The Star
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