NASA APPOINTS BOARD TO INVESTIGATE FATALITY AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

> March 23, 2006
> Allard Beutel
> Headquarters, Washington
> (202) 358-4769
> Bruce Buckingham
> Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
> (321) 867-2468
> RELEASE: M06-049
> NASA APPOINTS BOARD TO INVESTIGATE FATALITY AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
> NASA formed an investigation board this week at NASA's Kennedy Space
> Center, Fla., to review the circumstances surrounding the death of a
> construction worker who fell off a building at the center.
> The functions of the five-member investigation board include examining
> the facts surrounding the incident, gathering evidence, determining
> probable cause and recommending corrective actions. A final report is
> expected in about one month.
> Chairing the board is John Casper, manager of the Space Shuttle
> Management Integration and Planning Office at NASA's Johnson Space
> Center in Houston. Casper is a veteran astronaut who flew on four
> space shuttle missions. He has also served as director of Safety,
> Reliability and Quality Assurance at Johnson. In addition to the five
> voting members, the board is also supported by a number of NASA
> advisers and administrative support staff.
> In the early afternoon of March 17, Steven Owens, a 46-year-old
> employee of Oneida Construction, was performing roof repairs at a
> warehouse when he fell about 16 feet. Emergency personnel were called
> to the site, and he was airlifted to a hospital in Orlando, Fla.,
> where he died that same day. Owens was part of a roofing crew working
> on a warehouse located behind the Kennedy headquarters building in
> the center's industrial area. Oneida Construction is a subcontractor
> to Space Gateway Services, Kennedy's base operations contractor.
> For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
> http://www.nasa.gov/home
> -end-
> --
> --------------
> Jacques :-)
> www.spacepatches.nl
>

> He must have been damned unlucky
> I've fallen further than that and walked away from it, albeit winded and
> bruised!

> > He must have been damned unlucky
> > I've fallen further than that and walked away from it, albeit winded and
> > bruised!
> And he is an unfortunate reminder that there are people other than
> astronauts who have died while directly or indirectly working on the space
> program.