KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has completed its investigation into the Independence water tower that fell the wrong way in January.
After a cable snapped during the planned demolition of the 200-foot water tower, it ended up falling into the yard of a nearby home.
The tower fell into power lines, which led to an outage in the area, but no injuries were reported.
One car was clipped, but a city spokesperson said the owner was asked to move it and refused.
OSHA said that it did not have jurisdiction because there was technically no employee/employer relationship.
“The people conducting the work were individual owners of separate companies so there was no employee/employer relationship, therefor, OSHA did not have jurisdiction,” Scott Allen, OSHA spokesperson, said in an email to KSHB 41.
OSHA’s investigation looked into Cornelius Wrecking, the contractor the city chose to demolish the tower. Independence said the city chose the company as the project's lowest bidder at $40,000.
Neighbors were initially shocked that the tower that had stood for more than a century fell just feet from someone’s porch.
“It's crazy because it could have been so much worse," Barbara Taylor, neighbor, previously said. "It could have crashed right through that house."
Before the incident, Cornelius Wrecking had no previous OSHA history.
Cornelius Wrecking partner Sean Polacheck told KSHB 41 on site that the tower was supposed to land on the grassy area between the Missouri Model Railroad Museum and the nearby homes.
But due to the tower's age, its leg buckled, causing it to twist the wrong way.
“If this tower was structurally sound, even slightly, that would not have happened,” Polacheck said.
It took several days for power to be restored and the water tower to be cleaned up.
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