Minnesota OSHA, police examine construction worker’s fall in Lakeville

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Lakeville police and Minnesota OSHA officials are investigating an accident that claimed the life of a 26-year-old worker on a residential construction project in Lakeville last month.

Jose Francisco Cela Guasco, of Minneapolis, died shortly before noon on June 22 while working on the project at 17400 Glacier Way, according to a Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report.

Few details about the accident have been released as of Wednesday. But the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that Cela Guasco “died of blunt force head injuries due to a fall from a height.”

“Manner of death is accident and Lakeville Police and OSHA are investigating,” the medical examiner’s report continued.

The case remains open, according to an OSHA inspection report.

Madison, Wisconsin-based Horizon Develop Build Manage is the general contractor for the development, known as Springs at Lakeville. Continental Properties, also based in Wisconsin, is the developer.

The developer and the city of Lakeville didn’t return calls seeking comment as of Wednesday afternoon. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry confirmed that Minnesota OSHA is investigating the accident.

A video with an aerial view of the project site is posted on Horizon’s website.

Horizon has “30 years of experience” assisting clients in “developing, constructing and managing many forms of real estate, including senior neighborhoods, multi-family communities, commercial properties, hotels, and indoor water resorts,” according to its website.

Horizon’s website features numerous projects in Wisconsin and other states. Its Twin Cities projects include the Springs at Apple Valley and Springs at Cobblestone Lake, both of which are in Apple Valley.

In August 2019, Finance & Commerce reported that the “gated, townhome-style” Lakeville development would include 260 apartment units in 13 buildings. Continental Properties paid $4 million for the 15.45-acre site.

From outward appearances, it was business as usual at the Lakeville site Wednesday morning, as carpentry work and other construction activities continued. At an entry point to the fenced-in jobsite, the development’s address is painted in bright red letters on a sheet of plywood.

Reached at the project site, a Horizon official said questions about the accident should be directed to E. Jay Gering, the company’s vice president of construction. A message was left on Gering’s company voicemail.

The North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters said in a statement that the project should have been shut down longer for a more thorough investigation. According to the union, work was allowed to resume the day after the accident.

“The Springs at Lakeville construction project should have been treated like a crime scene on Monday, with a thorough investigation into the cause of death. Why would the developer, general contractor and MnOSHA allow work to resume Tuesday morning?

“The most significant question remains unanswered. Would the contractor and developer resume work so quickly and callously if the worker who died was not a Latino immigrant?”

Construction leads all industries in workplace deaths in the U.S., and Latino workers are especially at risk, according to an AFL-CIO analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as Finance & Commerce has reported.

Falls from heights are the leading cause of injuries and deaths in construction, according to OSHA data and the Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction, a national initiative to prevent falls from roofs, ladders and scaffolds.

Each year in the U.S., falls account for more than 200 construction worker deaths and more than 10,000 serious injuries, according to the campaign.

In the five-year period between October 2014 and September 2019, Minnesota OSHA investigated 99 workplace fatalities, according to Minnesota OSHA records. Of that total, 30 were related to falls.

Besides the Lakeville case, at least two other recent fall-related worker deaths are under Minnesota OSHA investigation. On June 24, a worker died after falling from a roof in Watertown, and on April 27 an employee of a plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor died after falling from a ladder in Minneapolis, according to Minnesota OSHA records.

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