WorkSafeBC has been looking into an incident where a worker fell from a three-storey townhouse at a construction site in the SEAandSKY waterfront development.
The government agency said the worker was moving peel and stick rolls across the roof when he fell.
On Jan. 12, paramedics were dispatched to the 1000-block of Laurelwood Road. An ambulance transported the man to hospital in stable condition, according to BC Emergency Health Services.
Afterward, WorkSafeBC sent a safety officer to inspect the site.
The officer identified Surface Exteriors Ltd. as the company responsible in this case.
A manager with the company, Margarita Wyld, said the worker dislocated his ankle and was in hospital for several hours but was later released.
"This is something that's very serious," Wyld told The Chief. "This isn't something we take lightly."
Wyld said an employee with the company was working on a roof, slipped and fell. He was wearing fall protection gear, but he was injured because there was too much slack in his rope system, causing him to fall a longer distance.
"There was a little too much slack in his rope when he was going from an area that he needed more slack to an area where he needed less slack," she told The Chief.
"If he had stopped to fix that rope, then there would be no issue."
She said the company takes a lot of safety precautions.
"We haven't had a single safety infraction on that site prior," said Wyld.
"Every day, we have our safety supervisors, they fill in the fall protection plan, they fill out the safety binder. We have our meetings every morning," she said.
In a report WorkSafeBC provided to The Chief, safety officer Lee Fletcher identified several issues with the site.
"This employer has failed to ensure the health and safety of all workers present at the workplace at which this employer's work is being carried out," he wrote in the report.
Fletcher wrote there was an inadequately detailed fall protection plan at the site; fall protection gear did not meet CSA standards and only four of 14 safety anchors were present.
"In this case, the fall protection plan lacked specific detail for the workers to know where fall restraint and fall arrest were to be used," he wrote.
"The employer has allowed for the use of a prusik-sling as part of a personal fall protection system in place of a rope grab. This is specifically prohibited within the guideline. Only equipment meeting CSA or ANSI standards are acceptable."
Wyld said the company has worked to address all the issues identified by Fletcher, but emphasized his report detailed only initial findings, and there are errors in the document.
First, she said Fletcher was incorrect in saying only four anchors were present.
Wyld said there are 14 anchors on the building, but there were four anchors in the area that was inspected.
She also said the company's fall protection gear "absolutely" meets safety standards.
"All of our employees wear a full fall-protection system, and, in this case, a prusik knot was used, and although this is an acceptable and standard practice, WorkSafe would prefer to see mechanical rope grabs, and we have updated our job site accordingly," Wyld wrote in a follow-up email to The Chief.
Wyld said the final incident report should be finished in mid-February, and that copy should have the most up-to-date information on what happened.
The Chief asked for comment from a spokesperson for Bosa-Kingswood, the developers behind the SEAandSKY project, which is essentially creating a new neighbourhood by Highway 99.
Spokesperson Cori Howard said Bosa-Kingswood are not responsible for construction on the site.
As a result, she provided a written statement from AXIOM Builders Inc., the general contractor for SEAandSKY.
"An incident occurred at our Squamish Lands project on Jan. 12," reads a statement attributed to John Russell, AXIOM's director of health and safety.
"We are in communication with the worker's employer as well as the worker, whose condition is steadily improving. A preliminary investigation has been submitted and reviewed by WorkSafeBC, with no violations and/or orders resulting against AXIOM Builders Inc. A final investigation will be submitted to WorkSafe BC within the prescribed 30-day period. AXIOM Builder's Inc. is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for all workers on its projects."
