By Canadian Press

WorkSafeBC says no injuries in fourth crane accident in Metro Vancouver

Mar 5, 2024 | 10:54 AM

VANCOUVER — There has been another crane accident in Metro Vancouver, in what B.C.’s workers’ safety agency says is the fourth such incident this year. 

WorkSafeBC says the latest incident happened Monday at a work site in Vancouver. 

The agency says in a statement that no one was hurt, but it doesn’t elaborate on what happened. 

A stop-use order has been placed on the crane, and WorkSafeBC says no one is allowed to work on a section of the construction site until a safety assessment is completed.

The statement says preliminary evidence indicates there are few if any similarities between the latest crane accident and three others in Metro Vancouver this year.

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A female worker was killed last month in Vancouver when a load fell from a crane onto an unfinished highrise, while two construction cranes collapsed or partially collapsed at separate sites in Surrey and Burnaby in January.

The issue of crane safety has re-emerged this year after police asked provincial prosecutors to consider criminal charges after a crane collapsed in Kelowna, B.C., in July 2021, killing five people.

WorkSafeBC says it is planning to bring crane operators, labour and the BC Association of Crane Safety together to discuss the latest string of accidents.

“Incidents involving cranes can be catastrophic, and we are very concerned with the number of incidents that have occurred in such a short period of time,” says WorkSafeBC head of prevention services Todd McDonald in a statement.

The recent accidents have prompted calls from a number of people involved in crane operations for better enforcement of existing safety rules and new regulations governing the assembly and dismantlement of the machines.

B.C.’s provincial government says safety changes are in the works and could be announced in the next few months.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press