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Steel plate falls and crushes construction worker in Clearwater

Nobody else was injured.

CLEARWATER, Fla — A stormwater project worker died when a large steel plate fell and crushed him in a trench.

It happened around 1 p.m. Monday while the man was working in the area of Hillcrest Avenue and Jeffords Street, police spokeswoman Joelle Castelli said.

The man was in his mid 30s. According to investigators, the steel plate was being used as part of a culvert box system to remove stormwater from the neighborhood and helped to stabilize the trench.

Police and fire rescue responded to the neighborhood on a call of a trench rescue, but the man had already died, Castelli said.

Nobody else was hurt. 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, investigators now are tasked to figure out what led up to the incident and if human error is to blame, Castelli said.

Keystone Excavators Inc. is the contractor affiliated with the construction at that location, Castelli said. When the project is complete, which is set for 2020, about 36 homes will be removed from the area's floodplain.

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