Accident on campus injures two workers
Recent poor weather
conditions and humidity
cited as possible causes
by Floyd J. Csir Fellow workers pulled Mike
Collegian Staff Writter DeDad and Tony Speeder from
the manhole. The two were then
Yesterday afternoon two transported to St. Vincent Health
workers lost consciousness while Center.
"Going down there, we could only last for ten
seconds at a time"
drilling holes in an underground
sewer line on campus.
The accident took place near
the new residence hall
construction site as workers from
the Spaeder Plumbing Co. were
working 20 feet below ground.
-Neil
Spaeder Plumbing co.
"Going down there, we could
only last for ten seconds at a
time," said Neil Londell, one of
the rescuers from the Spaeder
Plumbing Co.
Randy Hoffman, Manager of
Police and Safety, declined to
comment on whether or not the
accident could have been
prevented.
However, he did say the recent
storms have made conditions
more difficult and could have
played a part in the accident.
"Confined spaces are notorious
people killers," said Gary
Postlewaite, Deputy Chief of the
New parking lots expected to
help relieve Behrend parking crunch
by Mark Owens
Collegian Managing Editor
Behrend is experiencing
growing pains during its
expansion, and parking is quickly
beaming one of its biggest.
Two new parking lots are
planned to alleviate the parking
crunch, but only one of them
will be ready by the middle of
this semester. In the meantime,
"everyone is taking this one day
at a time," according to Randy
Hoffman, manager of Police and
Safety.
"So far, the parking lot being
built behind the maintenance
building is more or less on
schedule,” said Director of
Operations John Ream.
"The contractor was delayed
because of the bad weather we've
had over the past two weeks, but
we expect the parking lot to be
completed in 2 - 3 weeks," he
said.
The $500,000 lot was
originally staled to be finished by
the end of October. The
contractor, Poliuka Surface
Engineering of Ohio, was
required by the university to
Hospital bound: Emergency rescuers attend to a construction
worker who lost consciousness while drilling holes in a sewer line
Wednesday afternoon
Brookside Fire Co.
Postlewaite also said the
humidity was a factor in the
accident.
"All they needed was a fresh air
supply," said Postlewaite.
n at woi
start work on
finish by the set time or face
penalties.
"Right now, it looks like the
lot will be finished on schedule,"
However, Ed Olszewski of the
Spaeder Plumbing Co. said, "It's
not normal to use (oxygen) tanks
except for welding ... they go
down there all the time."
When the victims were pulled
Workers :om Poliuka
the new parking lot behind
Ream said.
Another parking lot is planned
io be built behind the
Hammennill and Zum Buildings.
out of the man-hole, they were
"both blue in the face,” said
Dennis Watkins of McKean.
Both Spaeder and DeDad were
treated and released from St.
Vincent yesterday.
instate
jmpany
maintaincance building
Bids were received last Friday and
construction is scheduled to begin
on Sept IS. Although the final
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