Following a serious construction accident in Salem, Massachusetts, the Commonwealth has ordered the exterior walls to be removed from the new state courthouse. The $106 million courthouse construction project was to include 576 outside wall panels, but after a 500-pound limestone wall panel fell and seriously injured a worker, the contractor halted work on the panels.
A spokesperson for the agency overseeing the construction project said it would take a few weeks to remove the154 limestone panels that had already been installed, but it should not delay the project, which is due to open in the summer of 2011.
Federal investigators have gotten involved and are looking to discover the cause of the construction accident. The construction manager said he plans to conduct his own investigation. Both investigations could take several months to complete.
Source: State orders wall panels removed from Salem court building, Gloucester Daily Times, June 30, 2010
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