Forklift driver wasn't trained

Jose Chirino's employer sent four workers to a safety class the weekend before the fire. He wasn't one of them.

By DAVID KARP

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2000

[Times file: Douglas R. Clifford] Jose Chirino's run-in with a power line set off the Ybor City fire.

TAMPA -- The forklift operator whose run-in with a power line last week set off one of the worst fires in Tampa history did not have the training required by federal regulators, a fire investigator said Wednesday.

The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration requires training to operate forklifts like the kind Jose Chirino was using to lift trusses Friday at an Ybor City apartment construction site.

"An eight-hour training course could have prevented $40-million in damages," said Tony Dotto, who teaches forklift safety classes for Crane Tech, a Tampa training and inspection company hired last month to investigate a fatal crane accident at the same construction site.

The weekend before the fire, Chirino's employer, Texican Construction Corp., sent four workers to a forklift safety class at a north Tampa rental company. Chirino was not one of them.

Al Alcala, an investigator for the Tampa fire marshal, however, said fire investigators were told by workers at the construction site that Chirino did not receive the required training before Friday's blaze.

Last year, OSHA required all forklift operators to get training by Dec. 1, 1999. Those who did not are barred under OSHA regulations from operating forklifts.

"We can't shut down and send all the men at one time to school," said Bill Preston, an official with Texican, the forklift subcontractor at the site. "We are trying to send them one at a time for schooling."

Last week's fire leveled a U.S. post office and destroyed the 454-unit half-built apartment complex where Chirino was working. The apartment complex, the Park at Ybor City, is a key part of Mayor Dick Greco's redevelopment plans for Ybor City.

Last month, Dotto and two other workers from Crane Tech had been at the same construction site investigating a fatal crane accident, which killed a 32-year-old construction supervisor. An insurance claims company, Lindsey Morden Claims Services, had hired Crane Tech to investigate the death.

While at the site, the investigators noticed problems with the forklift operators, Dotto said. Some were driving with heavy loads in the air. Others couldn't see clearly because forklift arms blocked their views.

Afterward, Dotto said he asked his boss: "Did you happen to see the forklifts?"

Crane Tech president Bo Collier had noticed the problems and told Dotto to tell the project's general contractor.

Dotto said he told Dan Rossetter, a superintendent at Camden Development, that he had seen workers operating forklifts improperly. He offered to train forklift operators, but Rossetter told him the subcontractor was responsible for training.

Rossetter said he doesn't remember the conversation.

"We get people calling here all the time about this and that," Rossetter said. "And I really don't pay attention to people when they call."

But Rossetter apparently passed on the message to the forklift subcontractor because Preston called Crane Tech and left a phone message.

Dotto said he returned the contractor's phone call, but never heard back.

Preston said in an interview that he wasn't interested in Crane Tech's classes.

He said OSHA's regulations were just another way for government agencies to take money from the construction industry.

"They bleed us," he said of the regulations.

Still, on May 13, the Saturday before the fire, Preston sent four workers to a company called Rentalex for forklift training. Rentalex sales manager Bob Krueger said the subcontractor has sent about four or five workers to the half-day classes since the beginning of this year. The classes cost $100 per worker.

Three days after the training classes, three workers at the Ybor City Brewing Co. next to the apartment construction site saw forklift operators dangerously close to power lines, said Alcala, the fire investigator. It's unclear if those workers were trained.

OSHA rules require operators to stay 10 feet from live power lines.

"They have been working around the power line almost since the day they were started," said Lon Hathaway, a former maintenance supervisor at the brewing company.

Tampa Electric Co. routinely deals with the issue at construction sites hundreds of times a year, a spokeswoman said. And more than a month ago, OSHA had scheduled a safety course for this Friday in Tampa focusing on power lines at construction sites.

On Wednesday, the blackened forklift remained at the spot where the fire started last week. A sign was taped to the forklift.

"Don't move," the sign said. It directed questions to a lawyer.

-- Times news researcher John Martin and Times staff writers Scott Barancik and Michael Sandler contributed to this report. David Karp can be reached at (813) 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com

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