From CBS Austin
Two construction workers were injured after a crane toppled over in south Austin Wednesday.
The Austin Fire Department says Rescue Task Force responded to a construction site accident with overturned crane at 2301 St. Elmo Rd.
According to AFD one person initially reported to have been trapped under the crane was freed with non-life-threatening injuries. Austin-Travis County EMS said they evaluated two more patients.
An Austin-based worker’s advocacy group said Wednesday’s incident highlights the dangers of the construction industry The crane collapse comes less than six months after a construction worker was killed in Southeast Austin after slabs from a concrete wall crushed him.
Sam Robles with the Workers Defense Project said more should be done to protect these employees. “Texas is a dangerous place to labor and construction,” Robles said.
Austin firefighter Peter Teliha said when the crane toppled over Wednesday morning, workers had to run to keep from being crushed by the falling piece of equipment. “When the failure occurred, everybody started running and the crane toppled over. So we’re very lucky there aren’t more injuries and more serious injuries,” Teliha said.
Texas is known as the most dangerous state for construction workers. According to the Workers Defense Project, one in five workers report being injured on the job during their construction career. One construction worker dies every three days in Texas.
“In just a moment you can go from performing your job to what I saw was workers running for their life,” Robles said. Read more from CBS Austin
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