Workers killed at controversial construction site

Philadelphia — Residents and activists with the No CHOP [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] Garage Coalition held a somber rally on April 9 near the site where construction worker Stepan Shevchuk, a member of Ironworkers Local 401, was killed on April 8 when the controversial, hastily constructed, 1,005-vehicle parking garage at 30th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue in Philadelphia partially collapsed. 

Two other union workers suffered injuries. Four days later, the bodies of two more Ironworkers, Mark Scott, Jr. and Matthew Kane, still remain under the rubble. Following the collapse, four highly trained search dogs combed through the rubble. Two K-9s trained to find living people failed to get a hit. Two other K-9s, trained to find human remains, did, making this a recovery. The bodies of the two workers were finally recovered early on April 13.

Ironworkers Local 401 posted on their Facebook account: “This unthinkable tragedy has devastated our local union and the families of both the victims and survivors. We’ve lost three loved and respected members of our 401 family and wait in anticipation to bring our brothers home.”

The structural collapse was contained to the side of a stairwell, where all seven levels collapsed after a pre-cast concrete segment failed while being installed.

On April 11, demolition crews began to take down the parking garage with a large crane, from which a Local 401 flag flew. Initial plans called for deconstruction, but because the structure was extremely unstable, plans shifted to wrecking ball demolition on the advice of several engineering experts. Once the partially constructed parking garage is demolished to a level deemed safe, firefighters will enter and recover the workers’ bodies.

As a result of the collapse, the busy six-block section of Grays Ferry Avenue remains closed since April 8, resulting in the closure of all stores in the Grays Ferry Shopping Center across the street including a vital grocery. While the city is offering an Emergency Grant program to businesses that are unable to open due to the parking garage collapse, this does not put food on area residents’ tables.  

Controversial development

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia owns the parking garage under construction for employees to park and use a shuttle service to reach the West Philadelphia campus, half a mile away. Dismayed area residents were opposed to the traffic, dust and noise the huge structure was creating. 

On Sept. 8, 2025, and again in February, local residents protested the garage construction, claiming it would increase traffic congestion, harm the environment and affect public health. Michelle Rose, a CHOP pediatrician and neighborhood resident, told WHYY News that she was among 120 hospital employees who signed a petition opposing the garage and submitted it to CHOP administrators in July 2025.

“There are a lot of doctors here today that just stand against the environmental pollution that’s going on and the environmental toxicity that’s being burdened on this community that already has so much burden from the past 100 plus years,” Rose said. She raised that the community suffers from high rates of asthma, diabetes, depression, leukemias and cancers. (WHYY, Sept. 8, 2025)

Christal Heath, a member of Philly Thrive who grew up in Grays Ferry, said the hospital is “trying to get rich off of a Black and Brown neighborhood.”

City officials held a community meeting on April 11 at the Vare Recreation Center to answer questions about the collapse and demolition. “Eventually we want CHOP [officials] to come to this community,” one resident said at the meeting. “At this point, we’re not going to have a garage there, it’s most likely going to be a memorial park, and we want them to invest in this community as of today.” (Philadelphia Tribune, April 12)

‘House of cards’

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is leading the investigation to determine exactly what happened. Former fire and parking deck expert Brian Bennett says crews will work to figure out why the failure happened. 

Bennet’s document “Concrete Parking Deck Structures” explains the hazards inherent in constructing concrete parking garages: “A parking deck is put together like a giant house of cards. It relies on the component weight to hold itself together. Very few fasteners are found in concrete parking decks. 

“Slabs are transported to the site and then lifted into position with a crane. During the construction process, floors are temporarily connected to the columns. Particular attention must be given to ensure that the concrete has properly cured before being placed into position and loaded. Loads need to be constantly monitored during the construction process to prevent overstressing components. Local failure could trigger a progressive (pancake type) collapse of all or large parts of the structure. 

“The weight of the concrete is transferred to the columns after tensioning. This situation presents a potential for catastrophic collapse if a column fails.” (tinyurl.com/mryp83p5) 

Referring to the time it will take to know why the Grays Ferry building collapsed, Bennet added: “If they have to look at the actual concrete itself, was it properly cured, things like that, that could take a little bit longer.” (6abc, April 11)

Declining safety inspections, violation penalties

Construction is one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S., with 9.6 fatalities per 100,000 workers each year, according to the AFL-CIO report “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2024.” Black, Latine and immigrant workers suffer job fatalities at a higher rate than average, the report added.

OSHA is the agency responsible for on-the-job worker safety and health through work site enforcement, education and compliance assistance and cooperative and voluntary programs. The 2026 federal budget request would result in a decrease of almost $50 million for OSHA. 

A 13% cut in the enforcement arm of OSHA would reduce job safety inspections in the U.S. by almost 10,000 — one-third. Ten years ago, OSHA had up to 1,100 inspectors. In 2026, that figure dropped to 736.

Trump’s 2026 budget also reduces penalties for unsafe work conditions by up to 70% for small businesses. In 2022 alone, 5,486 workers were killed on the job in the U.S., where the median penalty under federal OSHA for killing a worker was $14,063. Under OSHA, only 137 worker death cases have been criminally prosecuted since 1970.

Such statistics raise the question: What is a worker’s life worth when billionaires control the government? Are more incidents like the Grays Ferry Garage collapse inevitable as OSHA budgets get decimated?