Workers Dies in Accident at University of Iowa

A contract worker died this week after becoming trapped underneath a beam while working on a project to protect a flooded University of Iowa art building from future water damage, authorities said.

Kevin D. Hammons, 52, of Washington, Iowa, was pronounced dead at the scene along the shore of a pond near Art Building West. A construction company official said he worked for Iowa Bridge and Culvert based in Washington, about 35 miles south of Iowa City.

“The University extends its heartfelt condolences to the worker’s family, friends and community,” UI spokesman Tom Moore said in a statement.

Monday’s death marks the second time in recent months that a contract employee has died during a University of Iowa construction project. An employee of a Clive-based glass firm died in September after falling an estimated 40 feet off a ladder while performing work on windows at the Boyd Law Building. State safety regulators have proposed an $8,750 fine against the company for failing to train its workers on the safe use of ladders and related violations.

In this Monday’s accident, a beam near the shore fell on Hammons, trapping him in a tight space beneath the surface at about 8:30 a.m. Mike Hensch, administrator of the Johnson County Medical Examiner’s office, said authorities were investigating what caused the beam to fall. He said an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Rescuers from the Iowa City Fire Department spent hours trying to free Hammons before eventually using a cable attached to a back hoe to lift the beam and free his body, the Iowa City Press-Citizen newspaper reported.

The art building has been closed since 2008, when flood waters from the Iowa River ravaged the campus and forced the evacuation and closure of 20 major buildings. Art and music buildings were the hardest hit, and total campus damage has been pegged at $743 million and growing.

Workers are in the process of repairing that building so half of the art school, which has relocated to a former big box store three miles off campus, can move back in next year. Part of the project involves constructing a removable 12-foot wall that can be assembled when the river rises to protect against future floods.

Iowa City-based McComas-Lacina Construction started work on the project last year, and was expected to finish later this year. The firm beat out several others with a $2.8 million bid.

Mike Hahn, president of McComas-Lacina, said Hammons was employed by Iowa Bridge and Culvert, which was hired as a subcontractor to install a pumping station that would work in conjunction with the wall to keep water out of the building. A woman answering the phone at Iowa Bridge said the company would not have any comment.

Hahn said his company’s employees were working inside the building but none of them saw what happened, and his safety director is investigating.

Iowa Bridge and Culvert had been involved in several other UI construction projects in recent years, including one last year to harden steam tunnels to reduce the risk that they will send water to and from buildings during future floods.

Rod Lehnertz, UI’s director of planning, design and construction, said in an interview earlier this month the art building project is important symbolically for the university. When the building reopens next year, it will mark the first building that was closed because of the flood to fully reopen, he said. The building had just opened in 2006 and won national and international awards for its design.

Because of its architectural acclaim, the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated the building eligible for historic consideration, which has sped up the recovery work, Lehnertz said. FEMA might normally want a wall to be built to protect a flood-prone building, but in this case that would have ruined the architecture, he said. The 12-foot removable wall would be assembled and act as a “reverse moat” to protect the building when the river’s water rises, he said.

In addition to Art Building West, a second art building and the university’s art museum remain closed from flood damage and the school plans to rebuild both in new locations. The university is trying to acquire land for a second art building next Art Building West, but initial negotiations with one key property owner were declared a failure last month.

The university is appealing FEMA’s decision to deny funding for the school to build a new art museum. FEMA has said the building should be rebuilt at the same site but the university’s insurer says it will no longer cover its $600 million collection in that location.