Worker Dies At Taum Sauk Construction Site

Chrissie Cole

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A female laborer with Ozark Constructors died in a construction accident Tuesday while working on a concrete placement at the Taum Sauk reservoir in southeast Missouri.

She was flown to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where she later died from the serious injuries she sustained. Her name has not been released.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The investigation can take up to six months to complete.

The AmerenUE reservoir, located in Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park in Reynolds County, is being rebuilt after the utility’s hydroelectric plant breached in 2005, spilling 1.3 billion gallons of water through the state park, injuring the park superintendent and his family, destroying the park and damaging the East Fork of the Black River and the lower Taum Sauk Reservoir.

In 2007, Ameren agreed to pay the state of Missouri nearly $180 million to rebuild in the aftermath of the state’s worst man-made disaster.

The company denied further comment pending an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.