Community Corner
Work Halted at Site of Fatal Accident
State investigators are looking into allegations of inadequate permitting at the Hermosa Beach construction site where a worker was killed.
Construction has been halted at the Hermosa Beach site were a worker was killed on Wednesday.
Investigators from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, are looking into allegations that the contractor for the project, located at an office park at Sixth and Cypress streets, did not have a proper excavation permit for the area where Alejandro Valladares, 29, fell to his death.
The permit was issued to contractor David B. Shaw of Concrete and Block, based in Palos Verdes Estates.
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Valladares, who lived in Hawthorne, died after falling from a forklift into a ditch, where he was buried by a collapsing mixture of dense sand and clay.
"A few of the workers came immediately to his aide and tried to dig him out," said Sgt. Robert Higgins of the Hermosa Beach police. "But it was so unstable it was collapsing on top of those guys too."
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It is unclear whether Valladares was operating the soil compaction machine that caused him lose his balance and fall.
"It really shook up our city yard workers and the contractor workers too," Higgins said. "I've never seen anything quite like it."
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