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Worker hospitalized after injury at site of Monday fatal accident

SEATTLE — A man was taken to Harborview Medical Center with a head injury Wednesday afternoon after a construction accident at 101 Taylor Avenue North, near Seattle Center.

That’s the same construction site where a man fell to his death two days earlier.

In the Wednesday incident, the man in his 30s was treated by medics shortly after 2:30 p.m. Fire department spokesman Kyle Moore said the man was stable. It was not immediately clear what caused his head injury.

On Monday, worker Aaron Adair fell about 50 feet at the construction site after falling from scaffolding. The 31-year-old man was a welder with North Coast Iron Corp, of Anacortes, and it was his first day at the job site.

Adair was engaged to be married in June.

Witnesses told KIRO 7 that man unclipped his safety harness as he moved from one part of the scaffolding to another.

“He was going to the other side,” said David Widmer, who was also working at the site. “He must have unhooked to get to the other side and when he did he tripped over the welder and when he tripped, he fell.”

Widmer said he has worked in construction 31 years, “and never seen something like that.”

The victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he later died.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said it had been to the job site twice before. The first time was in March when a concrete form collapsed during pouring. No one was injured and no safety violations were found.

L and I returned last November after a complaint was made about the “fall protection” at the work site. Inspectors did not find any safety violations. Inspectors were out taking pictures and examining the accident site Monday afternoon.

The developer of the project, SRM Development LLC, said a statement Monday, “We are working closely with governmental authorities and investigators to help gain a clear understanding of the events that led up to this tragic incident. Today is a sad day for our company.”

Work resumed Tuesday morning after the fatal accident.

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