Companies will pay $84K in fines for deadly Raleigh scaffolding accident

The case has been closed against three companies cited for violations in a deadly 2015 scaffolding accident in Raleigh.

Posted 7:28 p.m. Aug 3, 2018 — Updated 9:48 p.m. Aug 3, 2018

Janine Bowen

, WRAL.com editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — The case has been closed against three companies cited for violations in a deadly 2015 scaffolding accident in Raleigh.

After more than three years, and an effort in court to fight the fines, the companies will pay a combined $84,000 for the accident.

Jose Erasmo Hernandez, 41, of Durham; Jose Luis Lopez-Ramirez, 33, of Clinton; and Anderson Almeida, 33, of Durham, fell to their deaths March 23, 2015, at the Charter Square construction site at the corner of South and Fayetteville streets. A fourth worker, Elmer Guevara, 53, was treated for serious injuries.

The men, and part of the platform they were standing on, fell several stories when one of the tracks snapped off the scaffold while it was being dismantled.

The state fined three companies, with Associated Scaffolding receiving the most serious violations and initial fines totaling almost $152,000. Associated Scaffolding challenged the penalty, and a judge reduced the amount owed to $70,000.

The other companies, Jannawall and Juba Aluminum, each paid their full $4,200 fines but, as part of the settlement, the labor department changed the violation from serious to “other.”

The families of the three victims and Guevera filed a lawsuit against several companies that were part of the project.

That lawsuit alleges Choate Construction, the general contractor on the project, rushed the dismantling of the scaffold, which forced Associated Scaffolding, Inc. to load sections of the scaffolding as it was taken down onto the platform with the workers. The platform was supposed to hold no more than 2,500 pounds, but it was carrying more than 4,200 pounds when it fell, according to the lawsuit.

That lawsuit is still pending.

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