August 10, 2010

Falling beam kills Builtcon Contracting worker in Vaughan, Ontario

Beam came loose on fourth floor of hotel project

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

A falling steel lintel beam has claimed the life of a 36-year-old construction worker at a Vaughan-area hotel project site. The accident victim was employed by Builtcon Contracting and was working on a six-storey hotel project site on 610 Applewood Crescent near Hwy. 400 and Regional Road 7 in Vaughan.

The Ministry of Labour reports that a steel lintel beam, atop two pieces of forming, fell from above, striking the worker in the head and chest. The accident occurred just after 1 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 9.

Emergency officials at the scene have reported that he was struck by a beam that had come loose on the fourth floor of the building at the project site. Reports indicate that emergency personnel worked on the worker at the scene but he eventually succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The labour ministry has secured the scene and is investigating the accident. No work orders had been issued against the project as of Tuesday, August 10.

This recent construction worker death comes during an eight-week provincial safety awareness campaign focused on construction work site safety. The campaign kicked on July 28 and has rolled out in various languages to reach workers, employers and supervisors across Ontario’s construction sites.

As of June 25, there had been 11 construction industry-related deaths in Ontario. There were a total of 16 for all of 2009.

Of this year’s fatalities, two have been via a worker being struck by falling objects. On May 19 a worker at a Whitby project site was fatally injured when a block wall, in a trench, collapsed and crushed him to death. The other occurred on June 25 when a worker was killed when the roof of a mobile home trailer, in Oro-Medonte, was being dismantled and collapsed on workers, crushing them. There have also been two workers buried to death in trench-related accidents this year.

Between 2005 and 2009, 97 workers have died in construction-related incident and 1,000 have been seriously injured, according to labour ministry reports. Overall, 40 per cent of workers who have died in work-related incidents during that four-year span were construction workers.

In addition to doubling the number of health and safety inspectors to 430 since 2005, with 157 construction inspectors, the province has established a toll free hotline, 1-877-202-0008, for workers and the general public to report worksite practices and conditions that appear unsafe.

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