One man has died from injuries in the lift crash that closed I-95 in Fort Lauderdale

David J. Neal
·2 min read
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One of the two men in a bucket lift that was knocked down Monday morning during an Interstate 95 construction project in Fort Lauderdale died Monday night, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The other worker is in stable condition, FHP Lt. Indiana Miranda said in an email. The de Moya Group, the Kendall-based contractor working on the project, said each man had worked more than five years for the company.

After the bucket lift went down, I-95’s southbound lanes were closed from Oakland Park Boulevard to south of Broward Boulevard from just before 11 a.m. Monday until around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Transportation listing of projects says the construction site is part of a $153 million project over 6.5 miles of I-95, from south of Broward Boulevard to north of Commercial Boulevard. It’s being handled by The de Moya Group.

While the preliminary analysis from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue and FHP said a crane malfunction sent a piling into the bucket lift, an email to the Miami Herald from The de Moya Group says “at this time, it appears there wasn’t a crane malfunction.”

Like law enforcement and regulatory (OSHA) agencies, The de Moya Group’s still investigating the tragedy. But, the company’s current analysis of what happened is “The piling was not suspended from the crane and the piling was not dropped. At this time, it appears that the piling broke, hit the manlift, and knocked it over.”

A concrete pilling sits on a collapsed travel lift blocking southbound traffic on Interstate 95 between Sunrise Boulevard and Broward Boulevard on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The incident resulted in injuries to two construction workers who were transported to Broward Health, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A concrete pilling sits on a collapsed travel lift blocking southbound traffic on Interstate 95 between Sunrise Boulevard and Broward Boulevard on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The incident resulted in injuries to two construction workers who were transported to Broward Health, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A check of the OSHA website says The de Moya Group, registered to do business in Florida since February 1986, has had one citation in the last 10 years. In 2013, while working on a project at the intersection of the Palmetto Expressway and the Dolphin Expressway, OSHA cited The de Moya Group for a violation having to do with documenting the type of safety signaling for which the signal person is qualified. No fine was proposed.

Correction: An earlier version of this story used incorrect information about the project given to the Herald by the Florida Department of Transportation.