MAYES COUNTY, Okla.- The Grand River Dam Authority is investigating how a contracted worker fell to his death Sunday afternoon.
It happened at the GRDA Energy Plant just east of Chouteau around 1 p-m. The GRDA says they've not seen an accident this severe in decades.
They say the man was working in an inside area near unit 2 of the plant. He along with other contracted workers were working on emission upgrades on one of the coal burners.
That's when he fell 30 feet to his death.
Locust Grove, Pryor and Chouteau fire departments all assisted at the scene. The man was not a GRDA employee, but officials say they're determined to find out what caused this man to die.
“It's very difficult to deal with this especially when you have a tragedy on site,” said GRDA Communications Director Justin Alberty. “We of course, as part of the investigation, another part of all this is just helping these people moving forward deal with all of this...the loss of a co-worker, the loss of someone you see everyday.”
The man's name will not be released until his family is notified.
GRDA says they want to make sure this type of tragedy never happens again. Officials say this has already been a sad day for the employees at this plant. but they want to make sure every agency involved learns from this investigation.
“The contractors are going to be involved, of course GRDA Police Department will help with the investigation,” said Alberty. “We have a wonderful safety team, our own employees that manage safety for our staff, they'll be involved in the follow up as well. And that will start in the morning.”
The area of the plant where the man died has been shut down for the rest of the night.
The GRDA says they hope to have more details released on this tragedy sometime Monday.
2 Works For You has a crew heading to scene and will keep you update as more information is available.
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