June 23, 2007
Window washer critical after 20-foot fall
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A 55-year-old man from the Indianapolis area fell about 20 feet onto concrete at a Purdue University building site about 2 p.m. Saturday (June 23) and was reported to be in critical condition that evening at St. Elizabeth Hospital.Lewie Wallace, Purdue construction superintendent, said the man had been washing windows inside the new Neil Armstrong Hall when he apparently stepped from a ledge onto a ladder and fell. The Purdue Fire Department responded. The regional safety director for the general contractor, Smoot Construction of Indianapolis, will investigate the incident. The injured man worked for a Smoot subcontractor, Employee American Maintenance.
The building, located at Northwestern and Stadium avenues, is expected to be completed in time to move furniture and faculty in before classes start for the fall semester.
Writer: Jeanne Norberg, (765) 494-2084, jnorberg@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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