October 15, 2019
These summaries of selected Construction work-related incidents recently reported to WorkSafeBC may help you to prevent similar incidents.
See additional summaries online.
| Injury Type: Multiple injuries, temporary loss of consciousness |
| Core Activity: Masonry |
| Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker was on a 3-foot-high work platform, installing overhead masonry brick around an elevator shaft. The worker lost footing and fell backward, toward the corridor wall behind. |
| Injury Type: Lacerations and undetermined injury to head |
| Core Activity: Pier, wharf, or dry dock construction or repair |
| Location: Interior B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| As a worker was operating a smooth-drum, vibratory soil compactor, the equipment slid down an 8-foot embankment, coming to rest on its side. |
| Injury Type: Upper body fracture, internal injury |
| Core Activity: House or other wood frame contracting, construction, or renovation work |
| Location: Interior B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker inadvertently dropped a piece of siding from the edge of a deck (10 feet 1 inch high). While trying to grab the piece of siding as it fell, the worker fell from the deck to the ground. |
| Injury Type: Amputation injury to finger |
| Core Activity: Excavator operation |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker was levelling a concrete catch basin while pressure was applied from the top by an excavator. The excavator bucket slipped and one of the worker’s hands was caught between the excavator boom and the catch basin. |
| Injury Type: Lower body fractures |
| Core Activity: Drywalling or acoustic board installation |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker was completing drywall mudding activities, working from a job-built wooden scaffold about 12.5 feet above grade. The bracket holding the work platform dislodged and the worker fell to the ground. |
| Injury Type: Bruising and back pain |
| Core Activity: Industrial, commercial, institutional, or highrise residential contracting or construction |
| Location: Interior B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| When the top rail and midrail of a guardrail failed, a worker on a third-floor balcony fell about 11 feet to a skirt roof, which was 11 feet 6 inches above grade. The top rail and midrail spanned about 11 feet. They failed when the worker leaned against them while pulling up an extension cord. |
| Injury Type: Injuries to head and arm (1 worker) |
| Core Activity: Traffic control |
| Location: Interior B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A traffic control person (TCP; a young worker) was observed falling into a ditch as a vehicle approached the traffic control zone. The TCP exited the ditch and walked to the front of their vehicle. The TCP waved an oncoming dump truck and trailer into the traffic control zone. As the truck travelled past the TCP’s vehicle, the driver looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the TCP fall into the side of the trailer and between the tires. The driver stopped the truck immediately and summoned assistance from the workplace. |
| Injury Type: Bruising |
| Core Activity: Drywalling |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A young worker using stilts while applying drywall mud tripped and fell to the ground. |
| Injury Type: Concussion, upper body injuries (1 worker) |
| Core Activity: Decking application or waterproofing |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker had been tasked with setting up a control zone in an excavation (the workplace) so that materials could be dropped into it from about 34 feet above. The worker entered an area directly below the platform from which material was being dropped and was struck by a roll of bituminous membrane dropped from above. |
| Injury Type: Close call |
| Core Activity: Painting or wallpapering |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| Local fire and rescue services responded to an alarm of carbon monoxide detected at the lobby level of an apartment building. Upon arrival, fire department personnel discovered two workers using combustion-type pressure washers in the underground parking garage. The workers were evacuated from the garage and checked by paramedics. |
| Injury Type: Upper body fractures |
| Core Activity: Framing or residential forming |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker was conducting framing activities on an open deck about 11 feet 10 inches above grade when the worker fell through the floor joists to the ground below. |
| Injury Type: Puncture wound to leg |
| Core Activity: Siding, awning, or gutter installation, service, or repair |
| Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A young worker inadvertently discharged a 2 1/2-inch nail into his leg. The worker was holding the trigger of a pneumatic nailing gun in the “on” position while moving between operations. |
| Injury Type: Injuries to leg |
| Core Activity: Excavator operation |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A worker was inside an excavation directing the grading activities of an excavator when the excavator’s bucket contacted the worker’s leg. |
| Injury Type: Minor injuries (1 worker) |
| Core Activity: Structural concrete forming |
| Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Sep |
| A young worker constructing a suspended slab falsework deck fell about 18 feet and landed on the lower concrete slab floor. The worker was wearing a harness, and a safety rope was present at the fall location. The worker’s personal fall protection system was not effective. |
| Injury Type: Soft tissue injury to leg |
| Core Activity: Excavator operation |
| Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Aug |
| A rubber-tired backhoe was travelling in reverse, adjacent to an excavation. The backhoe inadvertently turned into the excavation and came to rest on its side. The operator (a young worker) was extricated by co-workers. |
| Injury Type: Electric shock |
| Core Activity: Plastering, lathing, or stucco work |
| Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C. |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Aug |
| A worker was standing on the fourth level of a newly erected scaffold. While using a metal measuring tape to measure the distance from the scaffold frame to the adjacent 14.4 kV conductors, the worker received an electric shock from the conductor. |
| Injury Type: Undetermined electrical injuries (3 workers) |
| Core Activity: Concrete pumping |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Aug |
| Concrete from a concrete pumper truck was being placed. The operator positioned the boom within a metre of overhead 14.4 kV high-voltage lines, causing power to arc across to the boom. Two workers holding the discharge hose and the truck driver sustained undetermined electrical injuries. |
| Injury Type: Undetermined injuries |
| Core Activity: Concrete reinforcing |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Aug |
| A young worker using a work positioning belt was installing reinforcing steel at a commercial workplace. While repositioning, the worker fell about 6 feet to grade. |
| Injury Type: Temporary loss of consciousness, fractures |
| Core Activity: Structural concrete forming |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Aug |
| A worker was installing formwork components from scaffolding. The worker fell about 6 feet, striking his head on concrete. |
| Injury Type: Upper body bruising (1 worker) |
| Core Activity: Excavator operation |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Jul |
| A young worker was assisting an excavator operator to move precast concrete blocks at a workplace. While the worker was preparing the rigging, the excavator operator inadvertently contacted the excavator controls, causing the excavator bucket to strike the worker. |
| Injury Type: Undetermined injuries |
| Core Activity: Traffic control |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Jun |
| A traffic control person (TCP) was conducting traffic control activities when they heard an emergency vehicle (ambulance) approaching. As the TCP tried to affect traffic control to allow the ambulance to get by, the TCP was struck by another vehicle. |
| Injury Type: Close call |
| Core Activity: Structural concrete forming |
| Location: Lower Mainland |
| Date of Incident: 2019-Jun |
| A worker assembled a baker scaffold system on the eighth-floor balcony of a new building under construction. While unattended, the wheel-equipped scaffold rolled off the balcony, coming to rest on the ground about 24 metres below. |
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