Construction worker killed in lumber pile collapse in West Bend

The medical examiner and the federal labor safety office are investigating after a man died after a pile of lumber collapsed at a construction site in Washington County.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday morning received a dispatch for a man pinned under a pile of lumber at a new home building site at the 3400 block of County Highway NN in the town of West Bend, sheriff’s officials said in a social media post.

Both deputies and firefighters at the West Bend Fire Department responded after the county received a 911 call at 9:27 a.m. The man had been removed from underneath the lumber and first responders gave him CPR. He was taken to Froedtert Hospital in the town of Polk where he was pronounced dead.

The contractor’s telehandler removed a pallet of lumber from an on-site trailer, officials said in their initial investigation. The operator and a worker tried to secure the material with a ratchet strap while it was on the forks of the telehandler. But the lumber shifted and slid off the forks, pinning the man under the lumber.

The Washington County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.

OSHA has six months to complete the investigation, an agency spokesperson said.