Political Quotes

“Tomorrow, the 23d of April, will mark the 10th anniversary of a major tragedy in the State of Connecticut. It was April 23, 1987, that 28 workers in Bridgeport, CT, lost their lives at a place called L'Ambiance Plaza, a construction site. My colleague from Indiana may recall that it was the largest industrial accident we had ever had in the State of Connecticut. It occurred during the construction of an apartment building using a technique called lift-slab construction. You would actually construct the floors and then, by hydraulic lift, lift the floors up. Within a matter of seconds, these floors collapsed and took the lives of 28 of my constituents from Connecticut. It was a dreadful day, one that people still talk about in our State. In fact, early next week there will be a memorial service, with the families and others who are still feeling the pain of the loss of their loved ones. We ended up banning, in the State of Connecticut, lift-slab construction. There were Federal regulations put out on that construction as well. As a result of that accident, in fact, my colleague from Connecticut, Congressman Christopher Shays, who represents that congressional district, he and I introduced legislation to create some new requirements to monitor health and safety on construction sites.”