Workers released from hospitals hours after falling from construction site

Two Dallas construction workers were released from the hospital Tuesday after falling from the fourth floor of the Northpoint Crossing Apartments at the corner of University Drive and Texas Avenue, according to safety specialists overseeing the construction site.

Both men were treated for incapacitating injuries. A 35-year-old man was taken to the College Station Medical Center while a 33-year-old was treated at St. Joseph hospital, according to College Station police.

The pair had been on scaffolding installing sheets of siding when they fell just before noon, said Bill Landers, president of Construction Enterprises Inc., the general contractor on site.

Landers said both had been wearing harnesses, according to the supervisor at the site who saw pictures of firefighters cutting harnesses off the men.

The men had been working at the site for about two weeks for a subcontractor from Overland Park, Kan., Landers said.

Construction on the Northpoint Crossing Apartments began in the spring, with Phase 1 expected to be completed in August. The 11.5-acre development will have 603 units, 1,900 bedrooms and retail space.

Tuesday's incident was the fourth construction accident in the Bryan-College Station area since May 2013.

A 49-year-old man died when two shoring panels fell on him while working on a wastewater lift station near the Texas A&M Health Science Center in late May. Four men were injured in June when the steel frame of a barn being built as part of the Texas A&M Equine Complex collapsed. In December, a 25-year-old construction worker died after falling four stories from Kyle Field.

"With the other [construction] accidents in the area, we clamped down on safety," Landers said, adding that his employees receive 30 hours of OSHA training.

Falls are among the top hazards on construction sites, making up almost 36 percent of all construction worker deaths in the U.S. in 2012, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's website.

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Workers released from hospitals hours after falling from construction site