Redfield
07-31-2002, 01:34 PM
FORD FIELD FATALITY: Workers saw fall: 'It was horrible'
Painter was 150 feet high when crane tipped over
July 31, 2002
BY BEN SCHMITT AND HONGDAO NGUYEN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Gjon Gojcaj enjoyed his job painting at Ford Field so much that he tried to recruit his cousin, also a painter, to join him working at the site the last time they talked.
Gojcaj mentioned in a telephone conversation Monday evening that he'd had a slow day on the job because the hydraulic lift that he needed to transport him toward the stadium's soaring ceiling wasn't working, according to Jason Gojcaj, his cousin.
But on Tuesday, Gjon Gojcaj climbed into the lift around 7:30 a.m. and went about his work spray-painting trusses 150 feet above the field. He was killed about 2 1/2 hours later when construction workers say an outrigger -- or stabilizer -- on the lift collapsed, causing the lift to tip over. The 42-year-old father of five, who came to the United States from Yugoslavia about 30 years ago, was killed instantly when the lift's basket crashed into a lower tier of the stadium, where seating will soon be, workers said.
Marcia Anderson, a fellow painter, said she heard screams, then saw the lift as it was falling.
"It was horrible," she said. "There was nothing anyone could do. I've been in this business a long time, and I knew he wouldn't be able to survive a fall like that."
Anderson said she had refused to go up in the lift Tuesday, fearing it was unsafe.
Ford Field officials and contractors involved in Tuesday's accident would not comment on possible causes of the accident. State regulators also wouldn't give specifics.
At Gojcaj's home in Macomb Township, family members -- all of them dressed in black -- sat outside the brick ranch-style house talking and consoling each other Tuesday afternoon.
A relative, who asked that his name not be used, said older members of the family did not want to talk to reporters because it is a time of mourning. He called Gojcaj a generous, family-oriented man, and said the family hopes to find out the accident's cause.
Tom Lewand, Ford Field's chief operating officer, confirmed Tuesday that a construction painter died in an accident at 10 a.m., but refused to comment further. Construction crews were sent home for the day, while Detroit police and state regulators investigated the accident. Work is expected to resume today on the $315-million, 65,000-seat future home of the Detroit Lions. The stadium is to open Aug. 24 when the team hosts Pittsburgh in an exhibition game and hosts the Super Bowl in 2006.
"If I get called back to work, I'll go," said Anderson, a member of Painters Local Union 37 in Hazel Park. "But I won't get in that lift."
Anderson said she met Gojcaj, also a Local 37 member, about a month ago when he came to the job. Sometimes they painted from the same lift basket.
The machine involved in Tuesday's accident was inoperable Monday because of a faulty hydraulic pump, Anderson said.
Anderson said there were two lifts used for painting at Ford Field and that both were old and rickety. The other lift wasn't working Tuesday, she said.
"They were junk," she said. "And everyone knows this job was being rushed. I mean, there's a football game there in three weeks."
Gojcaj worked for Thomarios Painting, based in Akron, Ohio, according to Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services. Officials at Thomarios declined to comment.
Thomarios Painting was recently issued a citation for two serious violations at Ford Field, both of which were unrelated to Tuesday's incident, said CIS spokeswoman Maura Campbell. The problems involved scaffolds and lifelines to prevent falls.
The company was fined $1,750.
Michael Phelan, an ironworker with Local 25, said it was the first accident involving injury since construction began. A rooftop air-handling unit caught fire in May, but no one was hurt.
There have been seven construction-related deaths in Michigan in 2002, not including Tuesday's. Last year, there were 28.
http://www.freep.com/art/2002/july/31/boom_crash313.jpg
Painter was 150 feet high when crane tipped over
July 31, 2002
BY BEN SCHMITT AND HONGDAO NGUYEN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Gjon Gojcaj enjoyed his job painting at Ford Field so much that he tried to recruit his cousin, also a painter, to join him working at the site the last time they talked.
Gojcaj mentioned in a telephone conversation Monday evening that he'd had a slow day on the job because the hydraulic lift that he needed to transport him toward the stadium's soaring ceiling wasn't working, according to Jason Gojcaj, his cousin.
But on Tuesday, Gjon Gojcaj climbed into the lift around 7:30 a.m. and went about his work spray-painting trusses 150 feet above the field. He was killed about 2 1/2 hours later when construction workers say an outrigger -- or stabilizer -- on the lift collapsed, causing the lift to tip over. The 42-year-old father of five, who came to the United States from Yugoslavia about 30 years ago, was killed instantly when the lift's basket crashed into a lower tier of the stadium, where seating will soon be, workers said.
Marcia Anderson, a fellow painter, said she heard screams, then saw the lift as it was falling.
"It was horrible," she said. "There was nothing anyone could do. I've been in this business a long time, and I knew he wouldn't be able to survive a fall like that."
Anderson said she had refused to go up in the lift Tuesday, fearing it was unsafe.
Ford Field officials and contractors involved in Tuesday's accident would not comment on possible causes of the accident. State regulators also wouldn't give specifics.
At Gojcaj's home in Macomb Township, family members -- all of them dressed in black -- sat outside the brick ranch-style house talking and consoling each other Tuesday afternoon.
A relative, who asked that his name not be used, said older members of the family did not want to talk to reporters because it is a time of mourning. He called Gojcaj a generous, family-oriented man, and said the family hopes to find out the accident's cause.
Tom Lewand, Ford Field's chief operating officer, confirmed Tuesday that a construction painter died in an accident at 10 a.m., but refused to comment further. Construction crews were sent home for the day, while Detroit police and state regulators investigated the accident. Work is expected to resume today on the $315-million, 65,000-seat future home of the Detroit Lions. The stadium is to open Aug. 24 when the team hosts Pittsburgh in an exhibition game and hosts the Super Bowl in 2006.
"If I get called back to work, I'll go," said Anderson, a member of Painters Local Union 37 in Hazel Park. "But I won't get in that lift."
Anderson said she met Gojcaj, also a Local 37 member, about a month ago when he came to the job. Sometimes they painted from the same lift basket.
The machine involved in Tuesday's accident was inoperable Monday because of a faulty hydraulic pump, Anderson said.
Anderson said there were two lifts used for painting at Ford Field and that both were old and rickety. The other lift wasn't working Tuesday, she said.
"They were junk," she said. "And everyone knows this job was being rushed. I mean, there's a football game there in three weeks."
Gojcaj worked for Thomarios Painting, based in Akron, Ohio, according to Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services. Officials at Thomarios declined to comment.
Thomarios Painting was recently issued a citation for two serious violations at Ford Field, both of which were unrelated to Tuesday's incident, said CIS spokeswoman Maura Campbell. The problems involved scaffolds and lifelines to prevent falls.
The company was fined $1,750.
Michael Phelan, an ironworker with Local 25, said it was the first accident involving injury since construction began. A rooftop air-handling unit caught fire in May, but no one was hurt.
There have been seven construction-related deaths in Michigan in 2002, not including Tuesday's. Last year, there were 28.
http://www.freep.com/art/2002/july/31/boom_crash313.jpg