Companies on Vancouver Island were penalized a total of $33,633 in relation to a construction site death in the Diver Lake area of Nanaimo two years ago.
WorkSafeBC, the provincial agency which aims to prevent deaths and injuries at job sites, levied a $21,880 fine against Cumberland-based Muchalat Projects Ltd. for the Sept. 25 2024 incident at Shenton Road where a worker died. R.W. Wall Ltd. served as project managing company, while Muchalat Projects was hired to install heating, ventilation and air-conditioning and Ferguson Exteriors was hired to install windows and doors – both are Nanaimo based.
R.W. Wall Ltd. was fined $9,253 and Ferguson Exteriors was issued a $2,500 fine by WorkSafeBC.
According to Work Safe’s investigation, the Muchalat Projects worker, described as new and young, suffered “fatal injuries when the frame of a double entry door fell on him.” A pair of door frames – 3.6-metres in width and two metres in height – were propped up against the building.
It was the worker’s first day, and while safety orientation was planned for the start of the shift, the attendant was called off-site, and the session re-scheduled for later that day. A supervisor showed the worker his duties, which consisted of “pulling lines” for the system from the building’s interior to a third-floor deck. The supervisor subsequently went to do work at another part of the site – no one witnessed the incident.
“At some time around 12:30 p.m. … the worker was alone on the third-floor deck, likely continuing the work of pulling the HVAC lines out to the deck. One of the stacked door frames fell over and landed on him,” WorkSafeBC stated. “At approximately [1 p.m.], the first aid attendant was looking for the worker so that he could conduct the site safety orientation … [They] went to the third floor and found the worker lying on the deck with one of the door frames on him.”
The supervisor called 911 and tried resuscitating the worker. First responders arrived and the worker was taken to hospital.
Door installation plans were delayed and WorkSafeBC found the doors “were not secured after the change in plan” and Ferguson Exteriors did not inform anyone the door frames were not secured and up against the wall.
R.W. Wall Ltd. and Muchalat Projects Ltd. did not document “any hazard identification or risk assessment on the day of the incident,” the report stated, and the time from when the worker came back from lunch and his body was discovered signifies “a failure to monitor the worker’s activities and whereabouts. Muchalat also did not ensure that [R.W. Wall] had completed the required site safety orientation for the worker.”
“In addition, no documented hazard identification or risk assessment had been conducted on the day of the incident,” WorkSafeBC stated. “The firm failed [to] provide its workers with the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety, a high-risk violation.”
The project managing company didn’t guarantee that labour “was effectively coordinated between itself and the subcontractors on site. The unsafe placement of the door frames by Ferguson Exteriors indicates a failure to coordinate occupational health and safety activities and to implement a practicable system for ensuring compliance with [regulations],” WorkSafeBC stated.
The three companies did not respond to a request for comment.