Construction Industry Marks 10th Anniversary of Atlantic City Garage Collapse
By David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- Hundreds were remembering the 10th anniversary today of a tragedy at the South Jersey shore in which construction workers were killed while building a new parking garage at the Tropicana Casino.
Five of the ten stories of that garage collapsed. Blame was pinned on the lack of steel reinforcements in the concrete and the inadequate support for work already done.
It's taken some time, but the federal government is about to strengthen construction standards, according to Will Pauls, head of the South Jersey Building Trades Council.
"We went through every violation that OSHA had on that job ten years ago, we addressed each one, and we negotiated with OSHA over the last nine years," Pauls tells KYW Newsradio.
A memorial march and ceremony this afternoon, concluding outside the old Boardwalk Hall, is designed to not only remind people of the loss of life there but the gains made on the safety front in construction nationwide, which Pauls says have been significant.
