A construction worker died Tuesday morning in Fairmont, West Virginia after a crane malfunctioned on an Interstate 79 job site and sent concrete barriers into a crew working on the bridge over White Day Creek Road. Mickey W. Swisher, 30, of Morgantown, was killed at the scene. Two of his coworkers were taken to the hospital, one by private vehicle, and their conditions have not been released.
The early calls to Monongalia County 911 described a vehicle crash. West Virginia State Police later confirmed the incident was caused by a crane malfunction rather than a collision, and the investigation remains active.
For those of us here on the Suncoast, the story lands a little differently. Construction crews work around the clock on I-75, the Skyway, and every bridge and overpass along our stretch of the Gulf Coast, often feet from traffic moving at highway speed. This tragedy is a reminder that work zone safety isn’t only about the drivers or the workers. It’s about both. So the next time you roll through an orange-barrel zone, give the crew some room and take your foot off the gas.
Have you ever had a close call in a construction zone, as a driver or as a worker? We’d like to hear it.
