Gary Anderson, 58, was delivering sheetrock when the tool fell from the 50th floor.
JERSEY CITY, NJ — A South Jersey delivery driver was killed Monday morning after a 1-pound tape measure fell from the 50th floor of a downtown construction site, bounced off equipment and struck him in the head, authorities said.
Gary Anderson, 58, of Somerdale, was making a sheetrock delivery when the accident happened near Christopher Columbus Drive and Marin Boulevard, a busy area close to a PATH station. The death brought work at the high-rise site to a stop and drew an investigation by federal workplace safety officials. Police and city officials said the tape measure had come loose from a worker’s belt far above Anderson before it hit equipment near the ground and ricocheted into him.
The accident happened shortly before 9 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2014, as Anderson arrived at the construction site and got out of his truck. Officials said he had pulled in through the Christopher Columbus Drive entrance and was near the building when the tool fell. Carly Baldwin, a spokeswoman for Jersey City’s public safety department, said the tape measure became dislodged from a worker’s belt on the 50th floor, struck construction equipment about 10 to 15 feet from the ground and then hit Anderson. Police said Anderson was not wearing a safety helmet at the time. He was found in serious condition and taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 10 a.m.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration later described the tool as a Stanley FatMax 30-inch tape measure and said Anderson suffered a fractured skull. OSHA listed the incident as a fatal struck-by accident involving a heavy truck driver who was delivering sheetrock material. The worksite involved a large residential and hotel development in downtown Jersey City. Authorities said two 50-story residential towers and an attached hotel were being built there. The vehicle at the site was connected to Living Right Trucking LLC, while other reports described Anderson as delivering drywall product for an independent trucking operation. Officials did not say whether the worker who dropped the tape measure faced discipline, and no criminal charges were announced in the immediate aftermath.
The death stood out because the object that fell was small, common and light enough to fit on a tool belt. Yet from that height, officials and construction observers said, it became deadly. Workers at and near high-rise sites face risk from falling tools, hardware and building materials, especially when work is being done overhead. At this site, officials said hard hats were required for contractors. A supervisor for AJD Construction told officials that anyone working on the project was required to wear a helmet, but Baldwin said Anderson was not employed by that company. Police said Anderson had a hard hat in his truck, but it was not on his head when he was struck.
OSHA opened its inspection the same day Anderson died. The agency’s accident summary said Anderson was struck in the head by the tape measure after it fell 50 stories while he was delivering material. The case record identified his occupation as a heavy truck driver and classified the injury as fatal. The investigation focused on how the tool came loose, what safety controls were in place below the work area and whether workers or visitors were protected from falling objects. The construction site was shut down after the accident, and crews were cleared from the area while officials reviewed what happened. Work later resumed as the inquiry continued.
Witnesses and nearby workers described a sudden, confusing scene around the delivery truck after Anderson was hit. Juan Bonilla, who worked at a nearby site, told a local television station that the accident was frightening because workers below could not know what might fall from above. “Yeah, it’s a little scary,” Bonilla said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” Another worker said Anderson had been speaking moments before he was struck. The truck remained at the site for hours after the accident, a visible marker of a routine delivery that had turned fatal. Neither the construction company nor the trucking firm gave detailed public comments that day.
The site was one of several major downtown Jersey City projects rising near transit, offices and apartment towers as the city’s waterfront and nearby blocks continued to grow. The accident showed how a high-rise job can create danger not only for tradespeople on upper floors but also for delivery drivers, inspectors and others moving through ground-level work zones. Officials did not release a public finding that day on whether a hard hat would have changed the outcome. They also did not say whether netting, tool lanyards, barricades or other controls were in use at the exact spot where Anderson was hit.
The public record shows the fatality remained classified as a struck-by falling object case tied to the Nov. 3, 2014, inspection. Anderson’s death was reported by local and national outlets as an unusual construction accident, but officials treated it as a workplace fatality subject to review under federal safety rules.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.