Global Fastener News

Powers Fasteners Indicted in Big Dig Collapse

Jason Sandefur

Powers Fasteners Inc. was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter related to the fatal ceiling collapse in Boston”s Big Dig tunnel. \ No individuals were named in the indictment.
Powers supplied the epoxy blamed for the July 2006 collapse. Milena Del Valle, 38, was crushed to death when 26 tons of concrete ceiling panels dropped on her car.
“We are stunned, beyond belief,” stated Powers President Jeffrey Powers. “The only reason that our company has been indicted is that unlike others implicated in this tragedy, we don”t have enough money to buy our way out.”
Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, which managed the design and construction of the Big Dig, is reportedly negotiating with the state to pay an estimated $350 million fine in exchange for immunity for any current or future liability related to the tunnel system.
Thus far Powers is the only company indicted, though state officials have previously indicated that all companies or agencies that contributed to the tunnel were being investigated. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said other companies could be charged.
A National Transportation Safety Board report released in July claimed designers and construction crews had not considered that the epoxy holding support anchors could creep under load. Prosecutors allege Powers should have known the epoxy was unsuitable for the weight.
“The Attorney General well knows that Powers Fasteners filled a special order for a different epoxy – its Standard Set product – for the tunnel ceiling,” said Powers. “At no time did anyone ever tell Powers, and Powers never had reason to believe – that its Fast Set product was used in the tunnel ceiling.”
Company memos supplied to FIN support Powers” claim that as far back as 1999 the company explained the limitations of fast-set epoxy to firms and agencies involved in the Big Dig, including the Massachusetts Highway Department (see FIN, July 25, 2007).
Powers supplied ceiling designer Gannett Fleming, builder Modern Continental, and epoxy distributor Newman Renner Colony LLC with an International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO) evaluation report on Power-Fast epoxy by December 1999 that made it “very, very clear that there were limitations to fast-set epoxy, which could make it inappropriate to use for long-term live loads,” Powers consultant Karen Schwartzman emphasized to FIN.
The NTSB concluded that the probable cause “was the use of an epoxy anchor adhesive with poor creep resistance, that is, an epoxy formulation that was not capable of sustaining long-term loads.”
While the federal report faulted Gannett Fleming for failing to stipulate which kind of epoxy to use during installation, the NTSB findings also criticized Powers for providing what the board claimed was “inadequate and misleading” information about the limitations of fast-set epoxy – a charge Schwartzman strongly denied to FIN.
Contractors began installing ceiling anchors in July 1999 – days before Powers shipped a $1,287.60 special order for 120 units of its Power-Fast standard set epoxy, which was earmarked specifically for use in the ceiling, Schwartzman told FIN. She said fast-set epoxy was already on site for other applications, but was never intended for the ceiling anchors. �2007 FastenerNews.com