Gilroy
– A 19-year-old day laborer tumbled to his death when a beam
cracked underneath him on an east Gilroy construction site,
Sheriff’s deputies said.
Gilroy – A 19-year-old day laborer tumbled to his death when a beam cracked underneath him on an east Gilroy construction site, Sheriff’s deputies said.
Levy Manuel Rojas-Calderon was framing a roof on an aging home on the former Furtado Dairy property Monday morning when a supporting beam gave way under his feet. The Salinas teen fell 10 feet onto the concrete foundation and suffered a severe head injury, dying within minutes of paramedics’ arrival. Rojas-Calderon wasn’t wearing a hard hat or a harness, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dale Unger.
“His boss heard the wood crack, turned around and saw him fall,” said Unger, who was out of the office Monday. The Dispatch did not learn of the death until Tuesday morning. “It looks like he was killed on impact.”
Kendra Fortino, who recently took over the Ferguson Road dairy, was on the property and ran to the work site to find Rojas-Calderon motionless on the floor. Frantically, she dialed 911. Witnesses tried to stop the bleeding with a shirt while Fortino took directions from a dispatcher.
“We tried so hard,” she said Tuesday, sobbing. “It’s a blur. My heart breaks for his father and mother. I couldn’t have tried any harder.”
The teen was pronounced dead at 7:54am. Family members in Salinas are planning to bury Rojas-Calderon in Michoacan, the Mexican state from which he emigrated, said Fortino. The teen’s family declined to speak about its loss. Fortino had never met Rojas-Calderon before he died on the construction site.
under investigation for workplace safety
The death is being investigated by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which monitors job-related injuries and deaths. Spokesman Dean Fryer said falling deaths remain “a serious hazard” in the construction industry. In 2005, 31 California construction workers fell to their deaths. Three were working for residential roof-contractors. Rojas-Calderon, a day laborer, was hired directly by the dairy owners to remodel an aged 1,000-square-foot home on the property.
“When you come right down to it, it’s the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the worksite is safe,” said Fryer, “and that employees are safe in that environment.”
Fryer identified Manuel Furtado as the person who hired Rojas-Calderon, but Furtado said he hadn’t been involved with the dairy for weeks.
“It had nothing to do with me,” said Furtado, referring questions to Fortino. “I have nothing to do with that property anymore.”
Thus far, it is unclear whether the former dairy violated OSHA regulations. Employers are required to provide fall protection, usually in the form of a harness, to employees working more than 15 feet above the ground if they are standing on trusses; most others must be protected when they are 7.5 feet above the ground. Head protection is required for any worker who might be hit by objects from above, but is not required for those working at significant heights.
By law, OSHA investigations must be completed within six months, and usually take two or three months to complete, said Fryer. Potential fines range from “a couple hundred dollars to a maximum of $25,000 per citation,” he said. OSHA routinely turns over its findings to the district attorney’s office, which decides whether to file criminal charges.
Accident follows turbulent times for dairy
The teen’s death follows a difficult year for the Furtado Dairy, which shut down this spring. Fortino took over the property from her cousin, Manuel Furtado, who recently complained to a regional water regulator that times were tough in the dairy business. Furtado’s farm had taken a hit in 2005, fined $30,000 for discharging wastewater into nearby Jones Creek. Meanwhile, economic pressures are squeezing dairies: Creameries have closed their doors to new clients, unable to process additional milk, though dairy prices continue to rise. After Furtado closed the farm, Fortino tried to re-open the site as a smaller dairy operation, but couldn’t find a processor to take the milk.
“We’re still kind of reeling from, ‘OK, it’s not going to be a dairy,’ ” Fortino said last week before the accident. “What are we doing now?”
Fortino declined to give details about the remodeling project, which had begun only recently, neighbors said. Tuesday, the quaint mint-green home sat circled by Sheriff’s yellow tape, just north of the still-standing ‘Berkeley Farms Furtado Dairy’ sign.
“It was incredibly tragic, and everyone is still very, very raw about it,” said Fortino, choking back tears. The Fortino-Furtado family has been collecting donations to help with the Rojas-Calderon family’s funeral arrangements in Mexico. “Our hearts are broken.”
