‘A lot of workers traumatized’ in fatal crane accident along I-15

FARMINGTON — Utah’s State Bureau of Investigation and Occupational Safety and Health Administration are working to figure out what led to the death of a construction worker on Monday morning.

Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Mike McKay said the fatal incident happened at a worksite along Interstate 15 near Glovers Lane at approximately 9 a.m.

“We had a crane that was being disassembled by some construction workers,” McKay said. “A portion of that crane came loose, crushing one of those workers.”

Workers were sent home after the accident that killed 42-year-old Darren Baddley, of Gunnison, Utah. Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason said the incident was especially tough on contractors on the scene who had been working closely together over the last couple of years on the construction of the West Davis Corridor.

“To have something like this happen where we lose a member of the of our construction team, it’s hard to process,” Gleason said. “It’s hard to it’s hard to know what to say because there isn’t anything that you can say that can express what this family’s going through and what the workers out on our project are going through.”

No one else was hurt in the accident, and no other vehicles from the nearby interstate were involved, McKay said.

“A lot of a lot of workers were traumatized today, there on the scene,” McKay said.

Gleason added that it will take some time before investigators could determine what went wrong.

“It’s just a terrible thing,” Gleason said. “And, you know our hearts and our sincere condolences go out to the worker who lost his life and to his family and friends.”