State questions permit for worksite
A shrine with flowers, votive candles and a photo with the words ‘R.I.P. Alejandro’ overlooks the spot where a worker died in a construction accident. Photo Cal-OSHA officials said a contractor should have gotten a state excavation permit for shoring that was being performed when a worker was buried and killed at a large building under construction near South Park. The contractor said he had city permits, and did not know whether Cal-OSHA’s contention about a state permit was correct. The worker, 29-year-old Alejandro Valladares of Hawthorne, plunged head-first into a hole at the construction site last Wednesday morning, coming to rest with only one of his feet above ground as loose soil collapsed around him. Coworkers tried unsuccessfully to free him, and he quickly perished. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said Valladares died of suffocation. An initial report from Cal-OSHA inspectors contended that a state permit was required for shoring work at the 8,000 square-foot building at Cypress Avenue and Sixth Street, because the hole the worker fell in was more than five feet deep, said spokeswoman Krisann Chasarik. Investigators estimated the hole into which Valladares fell…
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