A construction worker was killed in the early morning hours of Monday, March 23, after falling from the Interstate 395 overpass onto Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the incident occurred just before 4 AM, when the worker fell approximately 20 feet to the road below. He was pronounced dead at the scene. OSHA and the Florida Department of Transportation have since confirmed they are investigating.
The worker has been identified by his family as Jorge Eliud Galindo Thompson. His uncle, Clifford Thompson, told NBC 6 that Galindo had worked in Miami for two years operating heavy machinery and that he had seen his nephew just hours before the accident, when Galindo left for his 7 PM shift. According to Thompson, coworkers at the scene told him that Galindo was inside the machine he was operating when it went over the edge of the overpass. The exact sequence of events that led to the fall has not been established by investigators.
This is not the first serious accident at the I-395 project in recent months. In January, six workers were seriously injured after being thrown roughly 30 feet by a falling beam, with all six transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. A safety stand-down was ordered, and FDOT said it was working with project leadership to review safety procedures. The project is being built by the Archer Western–de Moya Joint Venture—the same contractor linked to a fatal 2021 construction incident in Clearwater that led to OSHA safety violations. It is not yet known what, if any, corrective measures had been fully implemented before Monday's accident.
What Investigators Are Looking For
When a worker is killed on a construction site—particularly a site with a documented history of serious incidents—investigators will examine whether proper equipment restraints and fall protection systems were in place, whether the machinery involved had been inspected and maintained according to required standards, and whether site supervisors were enforcing safety protocols at the time of the accident. These questions don't presume answers, but they're precisely what OSHA and FDOT investigations are designed to pursue. In either case, the findings will likely require changes affecting this employer and this site.