Thats a shame.

Sounds like a Non-union outfit, with unskilled trained workers.

what a shame. sorry the man had to lose his life in the process.

and too bad about the demoliiton. it's a big beautiful old church in the hills--first lithuanian parish in the US, and the building really shouldn't be comeing down at all. It's a beauty and a shame to lose it, as well as a shame to lose John Martz' life i n the process.

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Sad it is. Makes no difference if he was union or non-union...it was his time! I have had the chance to compile many estimates for some surprisingly beautiful and old churches. The Catholic Diocese is faced with a catastrophic dillema because of too many churches, too few parishoners and of course...huge losses from many scandals.

I have to agree on that, either way it's tragic.

Update:

We believe that the work is being done by Empire Services out of Reading, PA.

The accident that also injured another worker, Anthony Webb.

According to an eyewitness, Martz fell from a high lift while working on what remains of the north steeple after a chunk of the building hit the basket he and Webb were in.

Charles Vascavage, has watched the demolition of the church he belongs to since the work began.

"They put a new claw on the machine here to remove a part of the church. On the third bite, it bit off a big section and they were afraid it was going to fall on the rectory," Vascavage said. "So they used the claw to stabilize it while they used a jackhammer. They went underneath the arm to look at something. Either the claw or the stone moved and it hit the basket and flipped it."

Martz fell approximately 50-60 from the basket while Webb remained attached to it, dangling from the harness strap.

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wether it was union or non-union it was not the correct procedure, not the correct equipment that lead to this mans death. Its awful, it should be more of an example of why "not just the low bidder" should be awarded projects.

I agree with you demoman, sounds like bad work procedure. The non union statement makes no sense, I've worked both and there are Union Companies that leave a lot to be desired when it comes to safety.

No matter the situation or the circumstances at hand, so sorry for the loss in our community.

I can't think of any non union demo co that have their men 10 or 30 hour osha trained. It's a law as of this year.

I don't know what part of the Country you are in but we work around plenty of Contractors that pre qualify to work the Petro Chemical Industry that are non union and are quality Contractors. I will agree that the Industry as a whole has a lot of work to do in the area of safety and health. There are way too many fly by night guys TRYING to be wreckers, I've seen both, union and non union. Being a non union Contractor, knowing the time and money we put into safety and training I'd put our safety record up against any union Contractor.