August 30, 2023
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Construction worker Jose Pereira, 43, died Feb. 24 when a balcony collapsed on him at the South Tower of the Spinnaker Condominiums in Sea Isle City. Yardley-based Ferguson Contracting has been fined $18,082 stemming from the findings of an OSHA investigation.
A Yardley-based contractor has been fined $18,082 following an investigation into the February collapse of a balcony that killed a construction worker at an oceanfront building in Sea Isle City.
A citation notice from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration detailed the findings of a probe into the Feb. 24 accident at the Spinnaker Condominiums, where Ferguson Contracting was doing work on the exterior of the South Tower. The condo complex is on the Promenade between 35th and 37th streets.
Jose Pereira, 43, of Philadelphia, was doing concrete work on a seventh-floor balcony when the eighth-floor balcony collapsed onto him around 2:20 p.m. He became trapped under the rubble, and two other workers who were on the eighth floor, including Pereira's brother, also were injured.
An extensive rescue effort required first responders to brace the seventh-floor balcony from underneath and locate Pereira by entering a hole cut through the outside wall of the building. The fallen eighth-floor balcony was hoisted using heavy-lift airbags, the Cape May County Herald reported. Pereira's body wasn't removed until around 10 p.m., when he was pronounced dead. The building was evacuated during the rescue.
OSHA investigators said the balcony "was not inspected by a competent person" as work on the building progressed, which would have helped determine whether shoring or bracing were needed to prevent the collapse.
Sea Isle City, NJ 3600 boardwalk. Spinnaker Condos. Balcony collapse. Reported to be a person under the slab. Unknown condition of person at this time. Command working on getting a crane to the scene to assist with operations. Photo credit to @jnos10 pic.twitter.com/Dn6lLklVVs
— Jonathanredsox80 (@Jonathanredsox1) February 24, 2023
In March, the Press of Atlantic City reported that the city's construction office had ordered work at the site to stop on the day of the accident, citing the lack of a permit for work on the South Tower. The building, constructed in the 1970s, was deemed an unsafe structure that required its balconies to be vacated until an engineering report was completed.
Residents and business owners at the South Tower were not permitted to return to the building until a March report found that the tower's structural integrity remained intact. The seventh- and eighth-floor balconies still have not been replaced. Wooden supports have been installed beneath the other balconies at the tower, Sea Isle News reported.
Prior to the balcony collapse, the state's Bureau of Housing Inspection had last looked at the property in April 2022 and did not find any violations at that time.
OSHA investigators said Ferguson Contracting did not instruct its employees on how to recognize unsafe conditions during the balcony repair. Other safety measures that might have prevented the collapse were not taken, and the contractor failed to create a site "free from recognized hazards" that could lead to death or serious injury, OSHA officials said.
Ferguson Contracting does not have a history of federal safety violations prior to the balcony collapse, OSHA investigators said.
Pereira, a husband and father of three, was described on a GoFundMe page as a "joyful and fun-loving spirit" who was devoted to his family.
