SALEM — The state ordered work to stop on part of the J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center following a serious accident last week.
The Division of Capital Asset Management, which is overseeing the $106 million courthouse project on Federal Street, halted work on the outside walls of the huge building after a 500-pound panel fell last Tuesday and seriously injured a worker.
"We've told O'Connell to stop installing the limestone panels on the courthouse," said Martha McMahon, a DCAM spokeswoman.
Daniel O'Connell's Sons of Holyoke is the construction manager overseeing subcontractors on the courthouse project.
There are two separate investigations under way.
The construction manager has hired an "independent forensic engineer" to review the installation of the panels, McMahon said. The DCAM spokeswoman said she did not know how the panels were fastened to the outside wall, or how long the investigation will take.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting a separate investigating of the accident.
Meanwhile, Vincent Leahy, 34, of Stoneham, the injured worker, was listed in fair condition Friday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he was taken Tuesday after his legs were badly injured when the stone panel fell four stories and shattered on the ground. He suffered other injuries, according to a fire official on the scene.
Leahy was on a coffee break at the time, DCAM said.
Leahy is employed by General Mechanical Contractors of Auburn, a heating and air-conditioning subcontractor.
A spokesman for the company said last week that "it wasn't our trade that caused the accident."
The accident scene has been roped off with police tape since Tuesday.
Construction crews continue to work on other parts of the building, which is scheduled to be finished next year.
McMahon said she did not know how long the investigation by the forensic engineer will take.
"We're not going to resume installing the panels on the outside until we have sufficient information about what caused the accident" and how to fix the problem, she said.
There has been no work on the panels since the 9:30 a.m. accident on Tuesday, she said.
OSHA said it has opened "inspections" with O'Connell's, General Mechanical and Lighthouse Masonry of New Bedford, a masonry contractor. The federal investigation could take several months.
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