On this day, April 27, 1978, 51 workers died in the deadliest construction accident in United States history.

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1. {46} Years Ago, the Deadliest Construction Accident in U.S. Killed 51

45 Years Ago, the Deadliest Construction Accident in U.S. Killed 51

April 27, 2023 by William Rabb

It was 45 years ago today that a huge scaffold system collapsed inside a cooling tower under construction at a West Virginia power plant, sending 51 workers tumbling to their deaths 170 feet below.

Eleven members of one family were among the victims in the collapse, according to news reports at the time. None of the workers on the scaffold survived.

It’s been known as the worst and deadliest construction accident in U.S. history. Multiple lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims and liability settlements followed. The incident also led to fines against the contractors involved and resulted in significant changes in the way cooling towers are built and how projects are inspected by federal regulators.

“There were redundant features here that, if they had corrected them, this wouldn’t have happened,” Stan Elliott, who was the area director for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, told the Charleston, West Virginia, newspaper in 2008. “If they had put the bolts in, it probably wouldn’t have happened. If they had let the concrete cure, it probably wouldn’t have happened.”


The Pleasants Power station at Willow Island, West Virginia, on Aug. 7, 1978. (AP Photo/File)

“But when you put all of these things together all on the same day at the same time, this is what happened,” he added.

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