CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - One worker has died and another suffered critical injuries after a stairwell collapsed inside a parking garage in Cambridge on Wednesday morning, officials announced.
Emergency crews responding to the stairwell collapse at the city-owned First Street Garage on Second and Spring streets around 8:20 a.m. learned that the workers had been restoring the stairway when the steel risers with poured concrete on top fell on them, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan and Cambridge Fire Chief Gerry Mahoney.
One of the workers, who officials identified as a 56-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The second worker, a 41-year-old man, suffered critical injuries. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
The names of the workers have not been released.
Mahoney said the men were found under piles of the collapsed concrete.
The incident left construction worker Gineton Silva shaken up.
“It’s very sad whenever someone dies,” he said. “You don’t want that happening to anyone, anyone injured too, that’s pretty bad.”
Colin Zimmer, an employee at nearby coffee shop Second Street Cafe, said parking garage workers would often stop by.
“It’s shocking,” he said. “I mean, it’s an old garage, it’s not surprising there was issues in there but it’s shocking that it happened.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is assisting local authorities with an investigation.
The fatal collapse comes one week after two workers were fatally hit by a truck at their construction job on High Street in Boston.
The Boston City Council is set to discuss Councilor Ed Flynn’s call for a hearing on construction safety during a virtual meeting Wednesday.
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