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January 11, 2008

Cable cut leaves several URI buildings without power

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- More than a dozen buildings in the upper part of the University of Rhode Island campus have been without power since this morning after a worker struck a high-voltage cable with a saw during renovations at Lippitt Hall.

No one was hurt in the incident, and power is expected to be restored by 5 this afternoon, according to URI Communications Director Linda Acciardo.

All the buildings affected are administrative and/or academic buildings that are connected by the same electrical loop, one of several that serve the Kingston campus, she said.

Workers, under conditions provided by state law, were given the opportunity to leave for the day.
Students are still on winter break.

The power went out around 10 a.m. after the worker hit the cable saw while working on the floor of Lippitt Hall, one of the campus's original granite buildings. Built in 1897, Lippitt faces the quadrangle and was at one time home to URI's basketball court.

The $8.5 million renovation plan calls for converting the hall, which has housed an academic computer center, into a fully academic building for the mathematics department and honors program.

Acciardo said that the local fire department responded to the campus, and that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration has been contacted. No research projects at the campus appear to have been affected.

The contractor on the project is A.F. Lusi Construction.

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 4:08 PM | Permalink

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