Skyline Towers collapse
Date | March 2, 1973 |
---|---|
Location | Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia |
Coordinates | 38°50′39″N 77°07′15″W / 38.84415°N 77.12074°W |
Cause | Building collapse due to premature removal of shoring |
Outcome | 14 construction workers killed, 35 injured |
On March 2, 1973, the 26-story Skyline Plaza condominium building, under construction in Bailey's Crossroads in Fairfax County, Virginia, collapsed, killing 14 construction workers and injuring 35 others.[1][2]
History
The construction of the Skyline Plaza began in the early 1970s. The site was just south of Bailey's Crossroads in Northern Virginia, on the site of the former
Skyline Plaza was the second major fatal accident involving the Charles E. Smith Co. within five years. In June 1968, two floors caved in at a Crystal City office building, killing three men and injuring 29 others. Arlington County investigated the 1968 incident and blamed the accident on insufficient wooden shoring to hold up concrete being poured to form the floor above it.[3]
Martin Lowton, 56, of Alexandria, Virginia, was inside the Skyline Plaza Tower 1 when it collapsed in 1973. He huddled under a fourth-floor staircase as concrete fell around him. He was able to escape after digging himself out of knee-deep rubble. Lowton said he had also been on the construction crew at the Crystal City building collapse in 1968.[5]
Collapse
The building collapsed while shoring was being removed from newly poured concrete between the 22nd and 23rd floors of the building, and more concrete was being placed on the 24th floor. A climbing crane on the 24th floor fell to the ground in the collapse.[1][6][7] It was initially falsely assumed that the collapse was related to the fall of the crane.[7] The collapse left a gap 60 feet (18 m) wide in the building from top to bottom, leaving it looking like two separate buildings.[1][6]
A
Cause
Fairfax County hired Professor Ingvar Schousboe of the
George Taylor, a workman for Northwest Sheet Metal, Inc., claimed that workmen were pulling concrete supports "out too fast. They're trying to hustle the job too fast."[3]
Costs
Marvin Dekelboum, executive vice president for the Smith Co., estimated the property damage at $12.5 million of the $24 million apartment building.[3]
The concrete subcontractor at the Skyline Plaza condominium complex, Miller & Long's vice president Roger Gilbert Arnold was indicted on manslaughter charges for the deaths of Danny Ray White, Clemons Riley Holcomb, and Daniel R. Wilhite. Arnold was charged because, as the senior Miller and Long official present he was responsible for the actions of the men who removed the shoring. The maximum punishment for felony involuntary manslaughter was 1 to 5 years imprisonment.[9] The trial resulted in a hung jury and the DA chose not to refile.[12][11]
Miller & Long was fined $300 for failing to use adequate shoring beneath newly poured concrete floors. It was ruled by a judge that the building's owner, the Charles E. Smith Co., could not be held criminally responsible for the actions of its subcontractors.[10]
Federal officials charged Miller & Long $13,000 for violations of worker safety codes.[12]
Fairfax County barred resumption of construction at the site for 16 months following the accident. Permission to resume construction was later granted. Work resumed in July 1974 and was completed in 1977.
References
- ^ LCCN 96033425.
- ^ a b Del Giudice, Vinny (February 11, 2005). "High-Rise Fires and Emergencies". Arlington Fire Journal. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ a b c d "5 Dead, 12 Missing in Collapse of High-Rise" The Washington Post, March 3, 1973: A1
- ^ "Skyline Records Sealed" The Washington Post, March 6, 1973: A1
- ^ "Workers Leaped, Ran for Their Lives" The Washington Post, March 3, 1973: A1
- ^ LCCN 83016215.
- ^ LCCN 90046691.
- County of Fairfax, Virginia. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ a b "Fairfax Collapse Laid to Builders" The Washington Post, April 28, 1973: D1
- ^ a b "Concrete Firm Fined $300 for Fall of High-Rise" The Washington Post, July 12, 1973: D1
- ^ a b "Engineering Disasters of the 70s". Modern Marvels. No. Season 13 Episode 20. History Channel. May 30, 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Man Battles with Tragedy" The Washington Post, August 3, 1974: D1
Further reading
- Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia engineering case study bibliography.
- Another Look at the Collapse of Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroads (PDF) Cleveland State University Civil and Environmental Engineering report.