Culiacán IMSS hospital formwork collapses during a slab pour, dropping a worker 14 meters
Formwork under a second-floor slab gave way during a concrete pour at the new IMSS regional specialty hospital in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on the night of Nov. 9. A 28-year-old worker fell about 14 meters into the basement and survived, local media reported.
The emergency call came in just before 8 p.m., Meganoticias reported. State and municipal civil protection crews, Culiacán firefighters and Red Cross paramedics reached the worker, a man from Puebla, in the basement. He had a head wound of 5 to 8 centimeters, and paramedics said his injuries did not appear life-threatening. Sinaloahoy reported that at least two workers were hurt. The cause of the collapse has not been determined.
The hospital, on the road to Imala at the La Pitayita junction, is being built by Army engineers of Mexico's Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional. Sinaloahoy put the initial investment at more than 2,568 million pesos for 395 beds, 12 operating rooms and 48 medical specialties.
Once the emergency crews left, the construction crew checked the damaged section of formwork on its own, decided there was no immediate risk and went back to work, Meganoticias reported. No official technical assessment of the collapse has been reported, and IMSS had not commented.
Mexico's construction safety standard, NOM-031-STPS-2011, requires written safety instructions for formwork and concrete placement on medium and large sites, and requires employers to report workplace accidents to the federal labor ministry, STPS.
Why it matters: Formwork that fails mid-pour can drop workers and wet concrete together. Here the crew went back to work the same night after its own visual check, with the cause unknown and no engineer's review reported.
Sources
- Trabajador cae 14 metros tras colapso de cimbra de construccion de hospitalMeganoticias, Nov 9
- Accidente en la construcción de un nuevo hospital de Culiacán deja un lesionadoLínea Directa, Nov 9
- Colapsa estructura del nuevo hospital del IMSS en Culiacán y deja dos trabajadores lesionadosSinaloahoy, Nov 10