Construction accidents fatal to 2 Toledo workers

7/9/2007

An injury accident was reported shortly before 2 p.m. this afternoon in South Toledo at the site of the new Westfield Elementary, a project of the Toledo Public Schools. The worker, Walter Minarik, 50, later died at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

The Toledo Board of Education in March approved more than $5.9 million in contracts for construction of the new school. The general trades contract for nearly $3.2 million was awarded to Willson Builders.

This morning, a contract employee working at Toledo's Bay View Wastewater Treatment Plant was killed, police said.

Police and rescue crews responded to a call for assistance at 8:43 a.m. at the Summit Street facility. The man who was killed was identified this afternoon as Tommy Zunk, 51, of Fremont.

Fire Battalion Chief Frank Keating confirmed a male construction worker was killed at the plant in an accident.

A worker leaving the plant this morning told The Blade that the worker was killed when an object fell off a crane striking him.

Chuck Moyer, executive vice president for Mosser Construction Co. said this morning at the plant that an 18-year Mosser worker, a truck driver, was helping other workers dismantle a crane at the rear of the plant when an eight-ton counterweight disconnected and fell on him as he was standing near the truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr. Moyer said it is common practice for a truck driver to assist workers as they dismantle a crane and remove counterweights. Mosser closed the construction site until further notice, with workers sent home after they were interviewed.

The crane was being used to build a storm water sewage pump facility.

The name of the truck driver is being withheld until his family is notified.

In 2006, John Franks, 45, of Port Clinton, a carpentry foreman for Rudolph/Libbe Inc., the contractor at the city's sewer expansion site, died from severe injuries he suffered after he and a co-worker were run over by an all-terrain forklift at the water treatment plant construction site. It was the first recorded fatal accident at the site at the time. The other construction worker, Joel Sandwisch, 67, of Millbury, was treated at St. Vincent.

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