One construction worker was killed and others were injured in a workplace accident while working for the Sewickley Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The accident occurred in the afternoon on July 28th when 31-year old Jack Hogan of Baden was working in a 30 foot deep hole.  Baden tried to climb out but fell backwards back down into the hole.  Hogan began to feel faint and radioed for help.  The plant supervisor, an inspector for the borough’s engineering firm, and a construction worker responded to his call for help.  All three say they were overcome by the fumes coming from the hole Hogan was trapped in.

Shawn Haynes, one of the rescuers, stated, “As soon as I got down in there I tapped one of the other guys that came down on the back, said I wasn’t feeling so well and that’s all I remember.  They said I dropped like a ton of bricks”.  Another rescuer was overcome by the gas and fell twenty feet.  The two other men then also became sick from the gas and fell down the hole on top of him.

All four men were rushed to Allegheny General Hospital for injuries.  Haynes was released later that night and Hogan later passed away at the hospital.

Investigators detected a small amount of methane gas when they arrived at the scene of the accident.  They are now trying to determine if the methane was what killed Hogan and injured the other men.