Five workers each underwent surgery for a range of injuries.
"We are investigating the accident," said Kevin Yarbrough, assistant director of the Tampa area OSHA office. "The investigation will probably be going on for a while, because it's a very serious situation that occurred out there." OSHA did OK work to resume on the bridge.
Authorities said the workers, who were working on a barge in the Indian River Lagoon underneath the State Road 528 bridge, were injured when concrete-reinforcing bars collapsed around them.
OSHA investigators have up to six months to determine if work conditions violated federal standards. Meanwhile, construction continues on the $30,163,798 DOT project to replace the westbound State Road 528 bridge.