Worker killed at southern Illinois work site

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating what caused a crane's boom to lower, crushing and killing a worker at an Illinois construction site.

The Belleville News-Democrat (http://bit.ly/14T2Eht) reports 31-year-old Justin D. Jokerst of Perryville, Missouri was pronounced dead at the scene of Monday's mishap at an Edwardsville construction site.

The Madison County Deputy Chief Coroner Roger Smith says Jokerst was working on the crane's boom at ground level when the boom lowered, pinning him beneath it.

Smith said a focus of the investigation into the incident is whether the boom lowered on its own or if someone was operating the crane while Jokerst was working on it. Jokerst was an employee of St. Louis-based Taylor Excavating Company, Inc.

The incident occurred at the site of a 500,000-square-foot addition to a warehouse.

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com