On January 18, 2015, Kokosing Construction Company Inc. started demolishing the Hopple Street exit ramp over the I-75 freeway. The following day the ramp collapsed killing a foreman and injured the excavator operator. In addition a semi-truck driver crashed into the wreckage and was injured as well, both were taken to the hospital. The collapse occurred due to the steel girders not being secure on their bearings. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) cited Kokosing Construction Company Inc. as well as two engineers from ODOT (The Ohio Department of Transportation) who signed off on the plans that lead to this collapse. Multiple parties were involved and affected by this accident. Some parties carried out the investigation on those who caused the …show more content…
OSHA began their investigating on this accident on January 22, 2015. The Regional Administrator for OSHA, Region V, contacted the DOC (the Directorate of Construction) to help the OSHA Cincinnati Office determine what the cause of the collapse was. The DOC sent Mohammad Ayub and Gopal Menon, both structural engineers to visit the site, examine the fallen girders, and interview key personal. ODOT awarded Kokosing Construction Company Inc. with a 91 million dollar contract to remake 1.6 miles of Interstate 75, this included the exit ramp onto Hopple Street that extended over the freeway. Kokosing submitted their engineering plans to Bret Murray and Burgess L. Decker at ODOT. They both signed off on the plans, allowing Kokosing to continue with their demolition. Even when Kokosing changed and submitted their new updated plans at the last minute, Bret and Burgess still signed off on the plans. Bret and Burgess were both qualified Professional Engineers working for ODOT. Before the accident took place, Michael Schweek, the superintendent of the project for Kokosing decided to halt the project since it was evident that the steel girders