Updated: Accident at Safe Harbor construction zone in Port Royal leaves one worker dead
A late morning accident Tuesday resulted in a worker being pinned between a steel mold and a large section of concrete in a construction zone off Paris Avenue across from Port Royal Town Hall. The pinned worker was freed and transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he died, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s office. Nearby witnesses scrambled to give aid at the scene. The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. and he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:20 a.m.
The Coroner’s Office identified the man as 21-year-old George Rundell from St. Petersburg, Fla. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow at the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.
Rundell got caught in between a large slab of concrete and the decking’s steel mold, which were standing upright at the scene, Coroner David Ott told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. An industrial forklift or some other machinery with extending arms was used to free Rundell from in between the two, he added.
Ashley Fernandez, a painter who was working at the nearby town hall, said she heard a loud noise followed by screams and ran to Rundell’s aid while calling 9-1-I. “I heard a big bang and then I heard him yell,” Fernandez said. “I thought, ‘oh no.’ It was a big tragedy.”
The South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration is aware of the incident and is in the process of gathering additional information, said Holly Beeson, counsel to the Office of Communications and Governmental Affairs with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
The death is the second at a Port Royal work site since mid-September.
SC OSHA has opened an investigation into the Sept. 21 death of a worker at Integra Wharf at Battery Creek, an apartment complex that is under construction off of Parris Island Gateway. The agency is looking for any OSHA violations that may have in contributed to the incident, Beeson said.
The site where Rundell was killed is a dock assembly construction project overseen by Safe Harbor Marinas. In recent months, local residents have been vocal with their criticism of the town’s elected leadership for allowing the assembly of these docks. The focal point for the local outrage is Safe Harbor assembling docks for months with those docks scheduled to be moved to other ports and marinas once complete. This project is on the land where a new marina is being developed off Battery Creek in Port Royal.
Port Royal police are investigating.
Update: an earlier version of this story reported that one of the cranes was carrying the concrete that lead to the fatality. Later information from Beaufort County Coroner at 5:30 p.m gave a different account of the cause. That change is listed in story.
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 1:10 PM.
