Accident kills Pearl Harbor worker

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Investigators from the Navy and state Occupational Safety and Health Division are probing the death of a civilian construction worker who was killed at Pearl Harbor Thursday.

Finefeuiaki Maumau, 33, of Kane'ohe, was disassembling metal construction rigging just before noon in the harbor's southeast loch when part of the equipment fell on him.

Another worker was killed at the harbor last year.

Maumau, a member of the Operating Engineers Local 3 who was working for the John Mannering Construction Co., was rushed to the Tripler Army Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:44 p.m.

Maumau had been one of several company workers digging a trench for the installation of military communications equipment near the harbor's "S Piers," the company said. Maumau was taking apart some safety equipment next to the spot the workers had excavated when a section of the rigging fell on him, Mannering said.

"He was a great guy, and it's very sad that this happened to him," he said. "I know this is very hard on his family."

The company is a subcontractor working with another firm to reconstruct Pearl Harbor piers that accommodate ships and submarines, a Navy spokeswoman said.

Because the death occurred on Navy property, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service will look into the accident, she said.

A 64-year-old shipyard worker died at Pearl Harbor in May 2000 when a crane he was in nearly overturned outside the intermediate maintenance facility's No. 3 dry dock.

Leroy Fujii had been standing in the cherry picker basket of a small crane known as a manlift and was making repairs to another crane. He suffered massive head injuries when the manlift jerked and tipped.

The accident that killed Fujii was the first fatal one at the shipyard in 15 years.

Reach Johnny Brannon at 535-2431 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com