ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — A federal work-safety investigation is underway in the grisly drilling death of a construction worker near Aspen last week.

Thirty-nine-year-old Greg Watson of Minneapolis was killed Thursday after his safety cord got tangled in a hard-rock construction drill and pulled him into the spinning auger. Watson was dead by the time co-workers could stop the geological drilling rig.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating Watson’s employer, Hayward Baker Geotechnical Construction. The national firm has an office in Broomfield, Colo.

Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Kendrick told The Aspen Times that criminal charges have been ruled out. Work has been suspended on the project at the La Chamonix Condominiums.

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