It didn't matter how soon paramedics arrived. Kevin Noah, a 42-year-old carpenter with three sons, had no chance. The accidental 50-foot plunge from his perch on the Golden Gate Bridge killed him immediately.
Noah's dizzyingly high station was a mere cross section of rebar — the slender iron braids that are often seen protruding from construction sites and provide a structure with skeletal support — inside an anchorage house located on a landbound portion of the bridge's southern end.
Moments before on that August 2002 morning, Noah had been performing his normal duties, receiving planks of wood from another worker for use in forming a temporary frame to contain a wall of fresh concrete. The bridge was a year into phase two of its multimillion-dollar retrofit, which today is nearly complete.
Suddenly, the clip on Noah's brace slid off the edge of an open-ended piece of rebar, and a nearby worker looked up just in time to see Noah's body collide with the extended boom of an industrial cherry picker before falling the rest of the way to the ground, according to an account in public workplace-safety records.
In February 2003, Cal/OSHA, of California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, concluded its investigation and penalized the retrofit's prime contractor, joint venture Shimmick-Obayashi, for, among other things, allegedly failing to properly rig Noah's fall protection and not providing workers with scaffolding to stand on in construction areas where the footing was less than 20 inches wide. Fines for the violations — three of them designated by the agency as serious — totaled more than $26,000.
But Shimmick-Obayashi wouldn't pay a dime.
The outfit immediately turned to the Cal/OSHA Appeals Board, and since such cases are backlogged statewide, the matter didn't reach an administrative judge until this year, when attorneys for Shimmick-Obayashi presented a peculiar defense. Cal/OSHA, they argued, sent the company citations through the mail that failed to list the full legal name of the company: the mailings were addressed to Shimmick-Obayashi instead of Shimmick Construction Company, Inc./Obayashi Corporation, Joint Venture.
The misstatement was akin to a cop failing to note "Esq." or "Jr." on a parking ticket. Cal/OSHA pleaded with the judge, Barbara Steinhardt-Carter, that "it is against civil law, board precedent, and public policy to dismiss this matter based on a minor technical fault that misled no one and caused no prejudice."
Steinhardt-Carter, however, bought the company's claim and ruled earlier this year that Shimmick-Obayashi was liable for none of the fines, even though Cal/OSHA got the name it used from the company's business cards.
Throughout a three-year period during which the parties exchanged memos, motions, and discovery material, the contractor's lawyers never mentioned a problem with the original citations, Cal/OSHA spokesperson Dean Fryer told the Guardian, and variations of the name Shimmick-Obayashi appear on several court documents. The move was a last-minute Hail Mary by a cunning ...
This was some awesome reporting and will help a great deal with the healing process of Noah's loved ones.
It seems that most of the time loved ones are dismissed as paranoid or delusional and this alone is a great hurdle. Keep up the good work.
For the families there is a place to turn for help and understanding. [link] or [link]
Best regards
Tammy
I just wanted to express to you my gratitude for all the hard work you put into this article. There are no words to define how Kevin's death changed everything about my life. But I believe with all of my heart he too would be so grateful to you for allowing the truth of his death to be told. Shimmick/Obayashi has put those close to Kevin (myself included) through unimaginable hell for no other reason then.... because they could. And while the truth may do little to change the ways of these two corporate giants. It has done more than you may ever know for those of us who continue to morn the loss of Kevin Scott Noah.
With Gratitude
Mary Vivenzi
United Support & Memorial
For Workplace Fatalities
web site ~ [link]
Email ~ [Email]
Ignorance is more intelligent than undeveloped knowledge.
~ Just as life is a learning experience our tragic losses provide death with the ability to be learned from as well. In ways that can benefited from in the name of prevention Our losses have the power to make a difference in the world. Based on what we have learned from our loss and how much we are willing to give back.
As not everything can be lost to us when, what's lost is given the ability to create positive change for the greater good of other's who need our protection. And it is my intent to let the truth of Kevin's death serve as protective shield for every worker everyday who is subject to work in an unsafe environment. Because merely surviving my loss is not enough for me. Knowing I did what I could to ensure someone else's survival IS.
M. V.
Just keep up the good work and remember what goes around comes around! Together things will change, we just have to gain the awareness and then it is only a matter of time before they can't get away with it any longer. The truth always comes out sooner or later. These people will have to face their families and friends with the knowledge.
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