The death of 36-year-old Joseph Sabbatino is being investigated as a possible suicide after the electrician fell from the 53rd floor of the downtown Los Angeles Wilshire Grand construction site. Sabbatino allegedly feel from the high-rise onto a moving car.
Turner Construction is managing the building site and has said the worker had no reason to be above the third floor. The architectural firm that designed the building also confirmed the electrician would have had no reason to be doing electrical work that close to the edge of the building.
While no suicide note has been found, the worker's father has said his son lived with depression.
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Witnesses say Sabbatino appeared to have removed his hard hat prior to the fall and was not wearing a tethered safety harness. In addition, the 53rd floor did have an 8-foot-high metal barrier fence to keep workers, tools and building materials from falling out of the tower.
The initial Cal/OSHA on-site investigation confirmed no fall protection violations were observed on the construction site.
This is the first serious injury suffered at the construction site, which has a workforce of nearly 900.
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