Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life Podcast with Lia Lamela. Thank you for joining me every Thursday for tantalizing trade tales, compelling craftsman stories of struggle, heartache, and unparalleled success in blue collar careers. I share with you my electrical journey, experiences and insight through engaging banter with those I've met along the way. If you're interested in trade tales and industry fraught with excitement and risk, subscribe and be notified, every Thursday, when trade tales continue.
Hello, I've got a riveting tale for you today. This is a tale that is actually known. Let's see if you can place what trade tale this is. Many of the fallen were only able to be identified by the contents of their pockets. The basic requirement in the design of any structure is that it should safely support all loads during construction. West Virginia underwent a massive expansion of its power grid. A series of cooling towers were being constructed to span the entire state. These towers are chimney like, in an hourglass shape. How does one build such a structure, towering hundreds of feet into the air and weighing thousands of tons? The answer is: skilled craftsmen, deal workers, carpenters, and laborers. With such an impressive structure being built, you would think a construction company would re-double its efforts or safety standards, so that the workers wouldn’t be at risk. These skilled tradesmen crafted a scaffolding structure that was designed by engineers in order to successfully construct these towers. This scaffolding and framework was rather complex. The scaffolds were physically attached to the rising building, so if you can picture an hourglass and a structure being attached as the hourglass starts to be built, this is different from most common scaffolding methods where the structure is just mounted to the ground.
After each succeeding layer of concrete was poured, the scaffolding was designed to move upward. As construction progressed, it was apparent that there were serious safety concerns. In fact, the site had been fined several times for safety violations. However, it was easier and cheaper for the company to just pay the fines instead of addressing the safety issues. The tradies carried on, most unaware of the danger. One morning at 6:00 AM in the year 1978, the men on site prepared to pour a new layer of concrete. As they did so, there were booms and crackles. As the inner work platform peeled away, 51 workers fell from 175 feet to the earth beneath them. Workers below heard the screams, watching helpless as men plummeted into the hollow of the building, there were no survivors. Many of the fallen were only able to be identified by the contents of their pockets.
Pleasant Power Station was successful at constructing previous towers in this fashion. Why had it failed this time? Of course, there was an investigation. According to the National Bureau of Standards, the concrete wasn't given enough time to cure in order to have the strength to support these loads. Therefore, it was unable to support the scaffolding structure and the men who stood upon it. Since the curation of concrete pounds per square inch is so important, you would think that the construction company would be testing consistently to make sure the concrete strength was correct and able to withstand the load. OSHA, who were already aware of safety violations on this site prior to the horrific event, reported rather than following the planned positioning of the cranes in the engineering diagrams, they moved the cranes to different positioning in order to fill more buckets of concrete to construct the tower more quickly. There was a lack of field testing on the concrete, which means it was inconsistent and the anchors for the lift had bolts missing. OSHA cited the contractors with 10 willful serious violations, which resulted in a mere 1,700 per victim.
However, the failure of the structure was not agreed upon. The importance of regulatory agencies, like OSHA, are supposed to make sure that construction companies obey the law and safety regulations. But who is regulating those companies? Who is regulating the regulators?
The contractor hired a private engineering firm and their reports doubted the concrete theory and blamed the scaffolding method itself. OSHA was aware of the problems with the scaffolding method as early as 1977, documents were found that OSHA workers reported previous scaffolding towers that needed repair on site.
The Willow Island disaster was the collapse of the cooling towers under construction at the Pleasant Power Station, at Willow Island, West Virginia, on April 27th, 1978. This is one of the worst construction disasters in United States History.
It is our responsibility to hold these contractor companies accountable and to protect the men and women who build our country. Safety should be preached within the trade careers. No one should have to risk their life, especially when the risk can be prevented. Make your voice heard. What do you think of Willow Island… when trade tales continue. If you enjoy trade tales and would like to hear more from Sparky Life, please subscribe, write a review. It really helps us find other listeners like you. Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up. Take what resonates with you, and if you'd like to hear more of the Sparky life, please subscribe, like, follow, and share. Until next time, create the sparks in your life.