Construction worker plunges to death
A 30-year-old worker died after suffering massive head injuries Tuesday morning when he fell 50 feet at the Cosmopolitan construction site on the Strip, authorities said.
The worker, David Rabun, was a member of Ironworkers Local 433. He was part of a group of workers attaching a steel beam to an upper floor at the site, which is sandwiched between the $7 billion Project CityCenter and the Bellagio.
About 9 a.m., a beam to which Rabun was harnessed fell to the ground, taking him with it, said Scott Allison, spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.
"He had no choice but to ride that beam to the ground," Allison said.
Rabun was taken to University Medical Center. He died Tuesday afternoon from his injuries.
Nevada's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.
The Cosmopolitan is a two-tower, $3 billion condominium and hotel-casino high-rise project being developed by 3700 Associates, according to the company.
Construction on the project began in 2005 and is expected to be completed at the end of 2009.
Rabun's death was the first construction fatality at the Cosmopolitan but the fifth this year for Perini Building Co., the company hired to build the project, authorities said.
In early February, two workers, 40-year-old Bobby Lee Tohannie and 24-year-old Angel Hernandez, were crushed when two 3,000-pound steel walls fell on them at the MGM Mirage's neighboring Project CityCenter.
OSHA later cited Perini Building Co. for improperly securing the steel walls and failing to train workers. OSHA proposed a $14,000 fine, but it later was reduced to $7,000. The second citation also was dropped, according to OSHA records.
Six months later, in August, a 65-year-old construction worker, Harvey Englander, was killed at Project CityCenter when he was cut in half by a counter-weight system used to work an elevator at Project CityCenter.
Most recently, on Oct. 5, another iron worker fell to his death at Project CityCenter.
OSHA is investigating those incidents.
Officials from Perini Building Co. couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.
