Butch McCartney

One Market & Johnson Inc. employee died and a second was injured in a construction accident on upper campus at about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday.

According to Jason Plante, director of marketing for Market & Johnson Inc., 38-year-old Michael L. Reidt of Strum was killed when a section of the university’s power plant wall collapsed on him and 35-year-old Rick Kulig of Whitehall. They fell from the 15-foot scaffolding they were on.

“As they were removing the exterior wall, the process of taking impact hammers and basically smashing into the brick wall … caused a 3-foot-high by 6-foot-wide piece of the wall directly adjacent to what they were knocking apart become loose and fall on them,” said Dan Market, president of Market & Johnson Inc. “(The piece of wall) pinned Mike between the ground and himself and just literally crushed him.”

Ed Kassing, assistant fire chief of the Eau Claire Fire Department, said the fire department received a call at 1:03 p.m. and the first unit arrived on the scene three minutes later. Reidt appeared to be dead on arrival and his body was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital per the medical examiner’s request, Kassing said.

Kulig also was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released for a right arm injury, Kasey Benson, communication assistant for Sacred Heart said.

Market said Reidt had worked at Market & Johnson Inc. for 18 months, and had been a construction laborer for 11 years. He was divorced and the father of a son and a daughter. Market was unsure of the children’s ages.

Market said the company is setting up stress counseling with the county for employees who were on the scene, other employees who were Reidt’s friends, and for his family.

“We are concerned mostly about his children and family and we’re going to do whatever we can to help them through this period of time,” Market said.

Plante said the accident is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.