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1978 Willow Island disaster...
1978 Willow Island disaster...
Item # 725455
April 28, 1978
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER, Raleigh, N.C., April 28, 1978
* Willow Island disaster
* Cooling tower - power plant
* Scaffolding collapse
The top of the front page has a headline: "Scaffold drops; 51 killed in fall" with related photo. (see images)
Complete with 50 pages, light toning at the margins, a few binding holes along the spine/1st column, generally nice.
Background: The Willow Island disaster occurred on April 27, 1978, at the Pleasants Power Station construction site near Willow Island, West Virginia, and stands as one of the deadliest construction accidents in U.S. history. During the construction of a 492-foot-tall concrete cooling tower, a scaffolding platform on which workers were installing concrete collapsed, killing 51 ironworkers instantly. Investigations revealed multiple safety failures: the scaffolding had been anchored to newly poured concrete that had not fully cured, inspections were inadequate, and workers were not provided sufficient safety oversight or fall protection. Many of the victims were local men, some relatively inexperienced, who had been working under intense pressure to meet tight construction deadlines. The disaster exposed critical lapses in engineering and safety management and prompted widespread reforms in occupational safety regulations, particularly concerning scaffolding, concrete curing practices, and construction oversight, leaving a lasting mark on U.S. industrial safety standards.
Category: The 20th Century
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$57.00
