Las Vegas Strip Claims Another Craft Worker

It has been a deadly game of construction roulette as the Las Vegas Strip claims yet another worker's life. .

By Tony Illia

Electrician Mark Wescoat, 47, of New Jersey, apparently fell 20 to 25 ft. to his death early Saturday morning, April 26. He had been employed by Houston-based Fisk Electric Co., one of hundreds of subcontractors working at the $8 billion, 18.67-million-sq-ft CityCenter complex.

The development is the largest privately financed construction project in U.S. history, say its developers, and has recorded five fatalities within the last 17 months. That's more deaths than the Las Vegas Strip saw during the entire 1990s. Perini Building Co., Phoenix, is the general contractor, and Tishman Construction Corp. of Nevada, Las Vegas, is the project manager.

Exactly what happened isn't clear. Early in the morning, Wescoat was found slumped over a 2-ft wall on the 25th floor of CityCenter's main hotel tower, which was under construction. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Local 357 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are investigating.

advertisement

Click here for the Next Breaking News Story >>



Click here for This Month's Feature Stories>>