SEA ISLE CITY – Work is underway to replace balconies at a high-rise beachfront condominium building, where a February balcony collapse crushed a construction worker, killing him.
Scaffolding has been erected and work is underway on the Spinnaker Condominiums’ south tower, near 37th Street and the Promenade, in Sea Isle City. In February, Jose Pereira, 43, was working on a seventh-floor balcony on the north-facing side of the south tower when the eighth-floor balcony collapsed and came down on top of him.
Pereira was stuck, sandwiched between the two concrete slabs, as crews worked for hours to try to extract him, eventually recovering his body more than seven hours after the collapse. Two workers who had been standing on the balcony that came down on top of him suffered minor injuries.
In August Ferguson Contracting, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, company for which Pereira was working, was fined over $18,000 as a result of the accident by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Following the collapse, the 1970s-era tower was closed and residents were forced out, pending a review of the nine-story building’s structural integrity. The tower was deemed safe and residents and tenants were permitted to return the following month.
According to a report on SeaIsleNews.com, the city granted permits for the construction work to replace the balconies, which recently got underway.
