Injured Ironworker Settles Construction Fall Case at Fermilab for $40M | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

An ironworker who suffered catastrophic injuries in a 20-ft fall at a construction site at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., has reached a $40-million settlement shortly before trial.

The case stems from a May 25, 2023, incident at Fermilab, a particle physics and accelerator lab, where journeyman ironworker James Daniels was working on the $978-million Proton Improvement Plan-II (PIP-II) project, planned to upgrade the lab’s particle accelerator to accommodate future research.

The settlement on behalf of Daniels was reached with the project’s general contractor, Whittaker Construction and Excavation Co. (WCEI), and the owner/construction manager, Fermi Research Alliance.

Daniels, a member of Ironworkers Local 1 with six years of experience, was employed by subcontractor Nucor Harris Rebar Placement of Belvidere, Ill., at the time of the incident. Although experienced in structural ironwork, he was performing his first rebar installation assignment on the project, according to case filings.

While no one witnessed the fall, investigators were able to watch the entire incident on video recorded by a camera on a building near the site.

On the day of the accident, Daniels climbed a 23-ft-high concrete form wall to perform columbus oh dump truck work at the top of the structure, as directed by his foreman. While standing for about two minutes on a 4-in.-deep horizontal support beam near the top of the wall, he lost his footing and fell. During the fall, he struck angled wall supports before landing on the concrete floor below. He lost consciousness, was airlifted from the scene and hospitalized for several weeks.

As ENR reported previously, the U.S. Dept. of Energy issued a 200-page report identifying safety lapses and recommending changes to prevent similar incidents.

"The forms were erected by the general contractor's carpenters the day prior to the fall," said Lou Cairo, an attorney for GWC Injury Lawyers, which represented Daniels. "There is no evidence that anyone working on this site had ever seen or worked on a form of this type in their careers. It was the first time the general contractor ever used them and the first time any of the ironworkers had ever even seen such a form. This was also the first rebar job my client had ever worked on in his career."

"My client was instructed by his foreman to climb up the wall and tie off a piece of rebar that his coworkers were going to pass up on the opposite side," Cairo said. "The plan was to stand up and tie vertical pieces of rebar in various locations and then start tying horizontal pieces to those verticals. Ultimately, they were going to build a rebar wall to be put in between the form columbus oh dump truck work to reinforce the concrete that was to be poured." 

Daniels sustained multiple traumatic injuries in the fall, including nerve damage and injury and chronic nerve pain affecting his left hand, multiple rib fractures, an ankle injury and a traumatic brain injury. He has been unable to return to columbus oh dump truck work as an ironworker. His medical expenses have exceeded $1.2 million, according to GWC. 

In October 2025, the DOE issued a final notice to Harris Rebar for a $118,000 civil penalty. The DOE states that after the event Whittaker took action to ensure all workers were trained to ensure 100% tie-off for all workers climbing Doka® formwork. WCEI also trained all of its workers on fall protection and verified Harris Rebar had completed training as well. WCEI also installed manufacturer approved anchorages and installed self-retracting lifelines to the top of the formwork to ensure workers were continually tied-off while climbing and working from the formwork. As a result, WCEI's penalty was reduced to $59,000.

Cairo said the settlement provides long-term financial security and resources for ongoing medical care and rehabilitation for Daniels, while holding responsible parties accountable for what he characterized as a preventable incident.

Whittaker did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.