OSHA Fines Downtown Contractors After Garage Collapse Kills One

Eddie Farah

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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined three downtown Jacksonville contractors for design and construction flaws that caused the December 6^th collapse of the Berkman Plazaparking garage.

The major construction accidentkilled one and injured 20 other workers.

Nearly $193,000 has been filed against Choate Construction, Southern Pan Services and A.A. Pittman & Sons Concrete. That is the largest fine for a single accident in North Florida history.

26-year-old Willie Edwards died in the collapse. The father was working to buy Christmas presents for his kids.

The companies are alleged to have failed to determine whether the six-floor structure was sound enough to support the extra weight from concrete being poured on the top floor. Also missing was critical support beams. They were cited for a flawed design in the building, and the quality of the construction.

The companies have 15 days to appeal. Southern Pan and Choate say they plan to contest the fine. Southern Pan believes the collapse was due to engineering failures.

Choate and Southern Pan are Georgia-based companies while A.A. Pittman is Jacksonville based. Expect a lot of blame to go around here before this story is over.