COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A federal review of a walkway collapse at a University of Missouri student housing complex has found deterioration of the walkway, a lack of information and lack of situational awareness contributed to the death last year of a Columbia firefighter.
The Columbia Tribune reports Lt. Bruce Britt was killed when a walkway at University Village apartments caved in beneath him on Feb. 22, 2014. The report issued late last month by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says Britt’s cause of death was suffocation due to being crushed by debris.
The report attributed his death to collapse of the walkway, the department’s lack of knowledge of the building’s condition and inadequate information from callers who reported the initial collapse that brought firefighters to the complex.