Flaw in causeway work met with feds' silence - By Melanie Payne, The News-Press, FL
Fatal flaw
A report from OSHA's investigators said threaded reinforcing steel anchors that hold the metal splice to the concrete pile were not installed properly.
They were supposed to be embedded at least 11/2 inches into the steel plate but were not. When workers began driving the pile, the concrete crumbled just above the splice and caused the pile to fall.
It turned the crane occupied by Crappell on its side, killing him and injuring Collins, who was in a portable bathroom and couldn't get out of the way of the falling crane.
Since the accident, at least 15 piles with the Sure-Lock splice have been rejected at the Sanibel job site because they had the flaw that caused the 2005 accident.