Construction halted at Brickell site where 6 workers were hurt by falling steel

Construction at the building site in Brickell where six workers were injured when a heavy load of rebar fell from a crane has been halted while the accident is being investigated, Miami’s building director said Thursday.

A stop-work order was issued for the property at 830 Brickell Plaza, which is a joint venture between the British construction firm Ant Yapi and Miami Beach’s Civic Construction. The project, which will have 57 floors and stand 724 feet tall, is being developed by OKO Group LLC.

“The site is closed,” Asael “Ace” Marrero said of the project, which would be the second-tallest building in Miami-Dade County. “There is no time frame right now for how long it will be closed.”

On Wednesday, Miami Fire Rescue crews were called to the site after the heavy steel fell, impaled two workers and injured four more. Rescuers had to use tools to cut through the steel and free the trapped workers. Five of the six workers were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Names and updated conditions were not released Thursday.

On Wednesday, Civic Construction said in a statement that the workers were “alert and conscious” at the hospital.

“They are reported to be stable and receiving care for their injuries. The safety of our workers and contractors is always our highest priority and we are cooperating with the [city of Miami] building department and OSHA in an internal investigation to determine the cause of today’s incident and to prevent it from occurring again,” the statement said.

Marrero said that before construction can resume, his department needs to receive three reports: one from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, one from the site’s structural engineer, and another from the shoring engineer. Then a meeting will have to take place in order to make sure any concerns are addressed.

A spokesman for Civic Construction said Thursday evening that they have completed reports from the structural engineer and the shoring engineer and were awaiting OSHA’s report.