A swarm of bees attacked construction workers in Riverside in the 5200 block of Van Buren Boulevard about 10 a.m. on Monday after their hive was disturbed, leaving one worker dead and two others injured.
The construction crew was grading the site for a parking lot and hit an underground sprinkler vault, unaware that it housed a beehive. One victim was taken to Parkview Community Hospital in critical condition and died, one of the other workers was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, and a third had minor injuries and was treated, according to fire officials.
We advise everyone to inspect your jobsite daily by taking the time to walk the area every morning to look for hazards and threats that may have occurred during the night or over the weekend, including bee hives.
Read the LA Times coverage here.
With the profound importance of worker safety in mind, the representatives from many of our region's top builders have joined together to create the Southern California Builders Safety Alliance (SCBSA). The goal of the SCBSA is to develop a unilateral set of safety-oriented best practices to observed at all residential construction sites. Additionally, the SCBSA will conduct job-site trainings to ensure that all contractors operate in accordance to the SCBSA guidelines.
Following is a list of BIASC Builder members currently participating in the Southern California Builders Safety Alliance:
Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Home Corp., Rancho Mission Viejo, Richmond American, Ryland Homes, Shea Homes, Standard Pacific, Toll Brothers, TRI Pointe Homes, and The Warmington Group.
Please be on the lookout for future announcements and if you have any questions about the Southern California Builders Safety Alliance, please contact Denise Kennedy at 949-777-3854 or dkennedy@biasc.org.
Here are the photos from the Fall Protection Training presented by Rudolph and Sletten, and John Ford with Cal/OSHA Consultation. The event took place on July 1 at the Grove Clubhouse at Baker Ranch in Lake Forest, CA.
