Construction related incident summaries are based on information obtained as soon as possible after the incidents: they are preliminary and subject to change. Details have been edited to protect workers’ privacy.
During a construction blasting operation, a controlled blast was set off 30 to 40 feet from a conveyance vehicle containing blast materials. A secondary detonation of explosives occurred in the vehicle, injuring one worker.
Injury Type: Fractures, soft tissue injuries
Core Activity: Construction labour supply or general labour supply
Location: Interior B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-Jun
ID Number: 2024160850022
A worker was in a trench, repairing a septic line, when the trench partially collapsed, partially burying the worker. Emergency services attended and extricated the worker from the excavation.
Injury Type: Close call
Core Activity: Excavation operation / House or other wood frame contracting, construction, or renovation work
Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-Jun
ID Number: 2024180340004
As a worker was operating a large excavator, backfilling the foundation of a new apartment complex, the counterweight on the back of the machine caught the supporting guywire of a utility pole. The pole snapped two-thirds of the way up, stayed upright, and the energized power lines remained intact. The utility owner attended the scene.
Injury Type: Close call
Core Activity: Welding services or ornamental metal installation
Location: Lower Mainland
Date of Incident: 2024-Jun
ID Number: 2024186450006
Workers were performing hot work on beams to support signage at a commercial building when a tarp placed to protect the building’s windows caught fire. The fire spread to a scissor lift. The fire department attended and extinguished the fire. There were no injuries.
Injury Type: Fractures
Core Activity: Road construction
Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-Jun
ID Number: 2024182170012
At an asphalt mixing plant, a worker was using a bar to help feed freshly mixed asphalt from a mixing drum onto a conveyor. The slat conveyor contacted the bar and the worker’s hand became caught in the conveyor.
Injury Type: Injury to head (non-worker)
Core Activity: House or other wood frame contracting, construction, or renovation work
Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024182170011
As triple-glazed windowpanes (6 feet square) were being unloaded from the back of a delivery trailer, four panels of vertically stacked glass fell over and pinned a non-worker against the side rail of the delivery trailer.
Injury Type: Exposure to natural gas (2 workers)
Core Activity: Excavation operation
Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024194460005
Two workers were digging next to a gas main on an alleyway when they disturbed an unmarked, decommissioned residential line coming out of the main.
Injury Type: Fracture, injuries to lower body (1 worker)
Core Activity: Excavation operation
Location: Vancouver Island/Coastal B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024178000003
A worker entered a trench excavation (about 6 feet deep) during the installation of drainage piping. The trench collapsed, engulfing the worker up to their neck. Other workers on the site extricated the worker from the trench. After the worker had been rescued, the trench collapsed again.
Core Activity: Plastering, lathing, or stucco work / Excavation operation
Location: Interior B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024180940012
While erecting a manufactured steel-frame scaffold assembly, a worker fell 14 feet to the ground.
Injury Type: Close call
Core Activity: General trucking
Location: Lower Mainland
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024207150004
A truck with a mounted crane was delivering a load of lumber and plywood to a home. The hydraulic stabilizer on the driver side of the truck punctured the street asphalt. The truck tipped toward the driver side and contacted a nearby shed. The load fell about 8 feet to the ground, landing about 30 feet from the truck. No one was injured, and the truck was removed from service.
Injury Type: Injuries to head (1 worker)
Core Activity: House or other wood frame contracting, construction, or renovation work
Location: Interior B.C.
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024173990001
Workers were inspecting a deck for rot and removed a section of plywood decking. During the inspection, a worker slipped through the opening in the deck and fell 9 feet to the concrete below, hitting their head on a joist on the way down.
Injury Type: Close call
Core Activity: Structural concrete forming
Location: Lower Mainland
Date of Incident: 2024-May
ID Number: 2024196660005
During bulkhead stripping activities on the seventh floor of a building under construction, a metal gang form (26 by 10 feet, weighing 5,330 pounds) released from the braces holding it in position. The form fell from the building, coming to rest on the roof of a neighbouring building. No injuries were reported.
Injury Type: Close call
Core Activity: Painting or wallpapering / Industrial, commercial, institutional, or highrise residential contracting or construction
Location: Lower Mainland
Date of Incident: 2024-Apr
ID Number: 2024155070016
Two painters on a self-propelled elevating work platform (boom lift) were painting the exterior of a building when the boom contacted overhead energized 12 kV electrical conductors. The workers remained in the basket while the power authority de-energized, grounded, and isolated the conductors. The fire department rescued the workers, using a ladder truck. No injuries were reported.
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