According to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, a 40-year-old man working construction in Silver Creek Village died Friday after falling from a height of 40 feet.
Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright identified the man as Jose Lopez-Cardenas.
Wright said Lopez-Cardenas was standing on scaffolding and passing construction supplies to other workers when he fell.
A 911 call came in around 2:30 p.m. from the man’s coworkers, who performed first aid before medical professionals arrived on scene. Wright said Lopez-Cardenas was unconscious and loaded on to a medical helicopter to be transported to a hospital in the Salt Lake Valley. He died before he reached the hospital.
Wright said the Sheriff’s Office called in representatives from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate the scene.
“So, in a case like this, we contact OSHA, they do send out an inspector or an investigator that looks at what's going on on the specific worksite to see if they were in violation of any safety standards. And if so, they will oftentimes fine the company that is employing the employee,” Wright said. “Especially in a case like this, where someone lost their life, they will look very closely to see if the workplace conditions meet the standards of safety.”
Silver Creek Village is a development southeast of the intersection of U.S. 40 and Interstate 80 that is approved for 1,290 homes — a mixture of multi-family townhomes and single-family residences. It has seen consistent and significant construction activity in recent years.
There are several construction companies and subcontractors working in the area. Officials did not release the name of the company that employed Lopez-Cardenas and several inquiries by KPCW did not yield that information.