BELMONT, Maine — Three construction workers were injured Monday morning after the boat storage structure they were building collapsed around them and they fell at least 18 feet.
“Everyone’s OK,” Trooper Bethany Robinson of the Maine State Police said Monday, adding all injuries were not considered life-threatening. “It was very fortunate that everyone’s OK.”
The worst injury appeared to be a man who suffered a possible broken leg, she said. The accident happened a little after 9 a.m. at Belmont Boatworks Inc., located on Route 3, where the construction crew from Warren & Warren Associates of Liberty were working on an addition to the business.
Workers had installed roof trusses for the new boat storage facility last week, and four or five construction workers were building the rest of the roof Monday morning, according to Bud Steeves of Belmont Boatworks.
He had been at work in the adjacent office when he heard the noise of the collapsing structure.
“The trusses came down and took the end wall with it,” he said.
Robinson said that there might have been a domino effect at work as the trusses collapsed, and the men fell along with the trusses. She said that the height of the structure was 35 feet but Steeves said that it is more like 18 feet.
Maine State Police responded to the accident, along with Belmont Fire and Rescue and the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office. Two men were taken to the hospital by ambulance and another was transported in a private vehicle.
Later Monday, the construction site looked more like a giant game of pick-up sticks, as the ground was littered with piles of wooden trusses from the collapsed roof structure.
“We came into work and were just as surprised as anybody else,” Steeves said. “Who expects that kind of thing to happen?”
Robinson said that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is going to investigate the accident.
Efforts Monday to speak with an official at Warren & Warren were unsuccessful.
This is a fairly common contruction accident. We had one at our lake so violent that the foundation was damaged by the force of the building coming down.
What is it that makes it fairly common? I don’t pretend to know anything about construction, and I’m truly curious about what makes this happen.
I guess the gist is that there is a correct method of holding these trusses in place until the roof sheathing goes on. If not properly braced the trusses can “domino”..at least that’s what happened at the accident near my camp.
Thanks for the info. It’s appreciated! :o)
obviously the result of electing to go with the low bid, general contractor’s need licensing,, the good one’s would never have this issue unless of a super high wind. but, any laid off mill worker or out of work joe can call himself a contractor and do this quality of work.
yep that looks like a 1000 lb or more pile of sheathing that was likely a point load on a truss rated for 120 lbs per square foot evenely spread
Not enough temporary bracing, you are supposed to install lateral and diagonal bracing as you set the trusses (per manufacturer’s instructions). Temp bracing seems like a waste of time until you’ve have seen a collapse. Once the trusses start to collapse on each other and then flip over into the interior of the building and force the exterior walls outward. I watched the VIP building trusses fall over while I was eating lunch at Governer’s in Old Town a while ago, it was a mess.
So, people don’t see a need for the step, skip it to save time, and while some may end up lucky, this is a very real end result?
OSHA may get involved due to the injuries and look at specific causes, the poster above mentioned a stack of plywood on the roof that could also contribute, the more temp bracing you install the “luckier” you will be. I don’t always install all the temp bracing reccommended but I always install at least some of it. Hope everybody is OK
Bingo; I’v3e seen it before too. If you don’t have enough diagonal bracing the wind will blow it down.
I see two very large stacks of plywood on top. That’s a no no.
It appears that there was a substantial amount of roof sheathing stacked on top of the trusses at one location as scene in the photo. Without the proper bracing, this extreme point load could have been the culprit or certainly made matters worse.
Dont think I be wanting them to build my house lol.
I was thinking the same thing! lol!
Stuff happens
Fly by night builders who know how to do it right, but they are cutting corners to get jobs and try to make some profit.
Naw,this guy is the real deal.He has a good building reputation.You know,sometimes,accidents just happen…
BS..Even I know you don’t stack the plywood on the roof like that…They had it boomed up by the boom truck to save time…A major no-no…Heck you don’t stack all the shingles in big piles after the sheathing is on…OSHA will have a field day….
That is the result of not enough bracing while setting trusses, all of the lateral bracing should have been installed and proper placing of the temporary bracing would have prevented this.
That header is too small for that span.
the header pictured is still there. it did not come down or create the problem. it is only to support the door, and the trusses had an enginneered girder truss to support the roof.
That header is going to have the weight of that roof on it. The gable and ridge are going to rest on that header. Once the structure is complete, there will be alot of weight on that header, and it will bag. That’s atleast a 24′ span relying on 3 2x8s. Not enough. If their roof caved in, I doubt they even bothered to crown them…..They should of used LVL’s.
P.S. if that happened to be a wall, and not the gable end, even worse….
No ridge with trusses! The weight of the roof is going to carried by the chords of the trusses which will be bearing on the side wall top plates. Dead load only on that header.
Indeed, my bad…
Also, I would not rely on that header. 2×10 minimum, LVL better. Was it a wall or a gable?
As a former contractor this photo is disturbing in many ways and I wonder how this outfit has stayed in business up until this point. Take notice of the header on the only wall that is still standing. This is obviously 2×6 or 2×8 at most, which for a span of this length is completely unacceptable. I would use a 2×12 header for this, while 2×10 would likely be okay I would rather be safe than sorry. Also, what happened to the end walls that were supporting the trusses. If these were sheathed and properly braced they would still be standing, regardless of trusses toppling over. I have seen some pretty sketchy looking job sites but I would have to say this takes the cake. If I were the owner of the property I would cut my losses with this outfit and find one more suited for this type of work. Perhaps Warren&Warren has multiple crews and this is the inexperienced one? I’m not sure but even most laborers would know not to stack plywood sheathing on top of trusses. Also, they make aluminum truss braces which provide minimal support and act as a spacer. I don’t see any of those installed either, not that these would have prevented this incident but it would have helped. I refuse to refer to this as an accident because this was totally foreseeable and preventable.
as it appears the photo may show only one wall standing but the reality is that thtree walls still stand. it is clear that you are comming to conclusions that are not supported on the scene. your comments condemming a contractor that does not deserve it with no knowledgee is totally unwarranted.
That is a minimum of 24′. I think LVL’s would have been the answer. I’ll bet they didn’t even crown them, what do you think?
I’m just glad budsview wasn’t injured.
I am a current truss designer, these are not from our company BTW not that it matters. A few things I noticed…they do have stabilizer bars installed, a plus, but I do not see any permanent or temporary bracing however. Perhaps they blend in with the trusses. The stacks of plywood are very much a bad idea and probably added stress, or unbalanced load. The end truss that is not pictured could have been a structural gable and thus the header would not need to be LVL since the load of the roof transfers to the side walls, but personally I agree that it should have been. What a costly accident that could have been avoided.
Maine craftsmanship at it’s finest………
The facts are that neglect to proper detail and construction ethics is the culprit! Done correctly even high winds would not have brought it down, it would have move or twisted it a little but it would still be standing! In too many cases companies cut corners and also hire sub contractors who’s only concern is to get the job done quickly and move on to the next one, it’s all about making money!
once again the know nothings are condemming someone without cause
Some times the truth hurts, Sorry!
You should have braced them better, bud…..that place should look like a spider web until all the sheathing is in place.
there should not have been any lifts of sheathing up there.. Should have rented a forklift durning the job. having a lumber yard drop 2 lifts on the roof or even one was asking for trouble.
I live down the street. Last time I went by there was noon on Sunday. At that time there were tw0 large stacks of sheathing on the top of the roof trusses. They likely sat there since Friday night when the crew stopped bulding.
Totally preventable and dumb should have had lots of cross bracing and I would have wanted to have the first rows on the bottom of the trusses installed has to be done from staging anyway then boom the top material to the top pitch
AAlso gotta love the aluminum pick between two lifts of staging that is resting on one aluminum plank no hand rails nothin this guy is toast
Went to their Facebook page and looked at some of their pictures..You all should too…..Check out the wireing in the bedroom renovation..It is stapled to the joists right beside the strapping so if you miss the strapping with a drywall screw it would go into the wire..Couldn’t take the time to drill holes thru the joists I guess..LOL..SCAREY and illegal I bet….Even worse is that they saw nothing wrong with it and posted pics of it for cutomers and others to see…Pictures of guys on staging with no hand rails or other satety equiptment..I know alot of us do that but I wouldn’t post pics on Facebook of it…LOL…