One year after fatal accident at Kelowna construction site, investigation still on-going

It’s been one year since five people were killed in a crane collapse in Kelowna, B.C.

The workers – four on the construction site and another in a neighbouring office – were killed when the dismantling of a tower crane on St. Paul Street went awry. Another worker was seriously injured.

WorkSafeBC, RCMP, and the BC Coroners Service are currently conducting parallel, independent investigations one year later.

Investigation

Immediately after the incident, WorkSafeBC’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Investigations team, launched its efforts with the primary purpose of identifying the cause of the incident, including any contributing factors. The team has been working with subject-matter experts and engineers for a thorough examination.

Over the last year, the investigation efforts have been in-depth, looking into the crane components, sequence of events, and work procedures that took place during the crane dismantling process. This will be concluded with an incident investigation report (IIR), which will be prepared and released publicly.

Continued efforts

While WorkSafeBC is on a well-advanced investigation, the team has yet to provide a specific date for the completion of the IIR at this time.

In the meantime, WorkSafeBC continues to implement its Crane and Mobile Equipment Initiative, which aims to identify and eliminate unsafe work practices and equipment hazards that may cause serious injury, fatality, or catastrophic events in the industry.