Cal/OSHA confirms it is investigating Santa Cruz Wharf collapse

The state agency responsible for overseeing occupational health and safety, Cal/OSHA, told Lookout this week that it has launched an investigation into the partial collapse of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf in December. 

“Cal/OSHA is, in fact, investigating the incident,” Department of Industrial Relations spokesperson Denisse Gomez told Lookout via email. Gomez noted the three workers put in danger due to the collapse, but said the agency would not provide further details until it completes the investigation. It’s unclear whether OSHA is investigating the city, the two private contractors, or all three. 

The investigation does not come as a surprise. During a Dec. 27 news conference, Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker predicted that “many state agencies will be involved in evaluating the circumstances around this incident in the coming days and weeks.” 

“We’ll be engaged with federal and state partners as we unpack the situation moving forward,” Huffaker said. 

One city employee and two contractors were on or near the under-repair section of the wharf when massive swells pulled it into the ocean on Dec. 23. Two of the workers, city project manager Norm Daly and Grace Bowman, an engineer with construction contractor Power Engineering Construction, were sent to sea and had to be rescued. The third, Brad Porter, an engineer with firm Moffatt & Nichol, only narrowly avoided falling into the ocean.

City officials and the workers have offered conflicting accounts as to why the trio was out on the vulnerable stretch of wharf despite severe weather warnings. Mayor Fred Keeley told Lookout the crew was doing a safety check to determine whether the city should shut down the wharf. Tony Elliot, the city’s parks and recreation director whose department oversees the wharf, said he wasn’t clear on the details of the work, only that it was to make sure the wharf was safe. 

However, Porter said the crew’s work had nothing to do with the weather or the conditions. He said he had proposed the inspection only days before, as a routine check to make sure the ongoing construction at the end of the wharf was going according to the drawings. Porter admitted he was unaware of any severe swell warnings, or that the conditions were forecast to be dangerous. 

The city knew about the weather but made the call to move forward with the work anyway, Keeley and Elliot said. Elliot said the city had taken safety precautions, including making sure the workers had personal protective equipment and lifejackets. 

However, Daly, the only city employee out there that day, told Lookout he was not wearing a hard hat or life jacket when the wharf collapsed into the ocean, a claim confirmed by photos taken by Porter that day that show Daly on the severed slab of wharf. Porter said he himself was wearing both a life jacket and hard hat during the inspection. Lookout has been unable to reach Bowman. 

According to the Cal/OSHA website, the incident investigations such as the wharf could take months, and carry the threat of fines and citations if a jurisdiction or employer is found liable. 

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