Crane collapse downtown

[Even Steven]

Its a LEIBHERR Crane , not a LILLIPUT Crane... its designed for 6 foot tall men to work on without running into "metal bars ".

It's just an example of why hard hats are required while working. Again, it's a good indicator of non-existent safety culture. On good worksites something this simple gets you fired. No arguing whether or not there's something above you, nobody wants to hear that the crane is designed for grown men. You're gone because you don't take things seriously and one day you will injure either yourself or someone else (or both). For some people following safety rules is just not cool. They'd rather cowboy it up, work fast and quick because they're young and dumb. And post videos for Instagram instead of focusing on operating a crane.

Small things lead up to big things.

[crookedmember]

I get what you guys are basically saying.. it looks like things may not have been done right.
But also, I will leave the investigating to the persons assigned to do that job.

The hardhat thing , it has been repeatedly pointed out that it may not he required.

Your pickup box analogy is flawed..yes there is a chance the people in cab may akso be doing something incorrect, but to say is highly likely they have no license is really stretching your imagination.

And I think you are wrong about Worksafe, i dont think they would say much to a non hardhat wearer.. might ask a question or two, will order you to leave and get one........ but the boss or super... is going to gear the brunt of what will happen..

I'm not an expert, nor is anyone else here, but not wearing hard hats, not using restraints and posting to instagram while dismantling a 25 story crane doesn't just NOT look like things were done right, it just isn't right.

[soupy]

I truly hope the one guy who survived (wearing his fall arrest gear) is getting support and financial assistance. I watched him—he was shaking horribly—as he prepared his harness for the shimmy across the tower support arm.

Agreed. That individual was there first hand and would have seen and lived through this deadly incident.
It is possible that his life was saved by wearing his fall protection when the accident occurred, or possibly he was located on a lower section that did not fall.
I cannot fathom the the fear and how scary that situation was having to climb down the rest of the structure to safety.
He will receive financial assistance and counselling from WorkSafeBC

[techrtr]

What a terrible summer this has been. First the KSS kids and now this. I feel so bad for those poor guys and their families. I wonder if the rush to get these buildings up is causing companies to compromise safety.

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

I ALREADY SAID, I basically get what you are saying.
The man tbat survived was likely in the part left standing. The horizontal part came down, and probably the shelf part where the being removed sections slide out may have come off, and that is probably where the rest of the crew was.

[crookedmember]

I truly hope the one guy who survived (wearing his fall arrest gear) is getting support and financial assistance. I watched him—he was shaking horribly—as he prepared his harness for the shimmy across the tower support arm.

Agreed. That individual was there first hand and would have seen and lived through this deadly incident.
It is possible that his life was saved by wearing his fall protection when the accident occurred, or possibly he was located on a lower section that did not fall.
I cannot fathom the the fear and how scary that situation was having to climb down the rest of the structure to safety.
He will receive financial assistance and counselling from WorkSafeBC

Given the way the tower was twisted, concrete balconies broken off, and the fact the impact was felt around the city, there's probably a good chance he was knocked from his perch and saved by his gear.

Can't imagine how traumatic this must be for the guy.

[TylerM4]

Your pickup box analogy is flawed..yes there is a chance the people in cab may akso be doing something incorrect, but to say is highly likely they have no license is really stretching your imagination.

Good thing I didn't use that wording in my analogy then.

Regardless, The point is that you're more likely to find hidden safety violations if there are clearly visible safety violations already exhibited. It wasn't really talking to the difference in likelihood, just that it's "more likely".

What do you mean "hardhat wasn't required"? It's required if you don't want fines and/or to get shut down. They had tones of steel being dismantled above them, heavy large wrenches/tools that could be dropped, etc. The most you can say is that "hardhats wouldn't have prevented this accident".

[Mrmarvingardens]

I wonder where some of those posting here, get their information.
First, there was one man, the operator was on the crane when it fell
Two Stemmer brothers and owners of the Leibherr crane were on the ground, along with a 21 year old who was on his first day of work.(He had worked for the Stemmer's in the past, several years ago)
The vertical, not the horizontal was collapsing at the top triangular building support, but stayed at the vertical.The boom had fallen
The lower support is where the workman was seen making his way back to safety in the building from the vertical, still standing after the collapse.
It is interesting that there is no training for crane workers or operators, as now advocated by the Operating Engineers, and as they have been doing for many years.
Also noted how quick CEO Mission Group Jonathon Freisen quickly distanced the Mission group: " the crane and operators were not part of his work force."
Working on the cheap, non union, untrained is a way of the world now.
Would proper training have prevented this terrible accident? Maybe. maybe not.Engineering analysis that will come might provide some answers.

[Even Steven]

I feel so bad for those poor guys and their families. I wonder if the rush to get these buildings up is causing companies to compromise safety.

At the end of the day, it's up to the crane company to follow safety procedures, it's up to the most senior guy there to make sure safety is followed, and fix the issues as he sees them. There's nobody above them at that moment (literally). That's why I don't understand why people knock Mission Group - it was these 5 workers there, Mission Group doesn't have to supervise them.

But the most senior guy was probably the one who was filming the video for Instagram.

[Vacancyrate]

I'd tend to agree. Note the professionals/engineers brought in to clean-up the damaged crane are wearing hard hats and using fall restraints.

"...but there was nothing overhead and if they crane bucket failed the fall restrains wouldn't save them anyways!"

So amazing to read so many people defending not wearing a hard hat on a construction site.

Then again this is the cowboy Okanagan where small family run businesses run the show.

Yeeeee hawww we're making money building luxury condos!

[Trixster]

Did anyone else notice how fast John Friesen from the Mission Group distanced himself and his company from Stremmer Construction.

[Puffie40]

Worksafe and OHS won't comment on the video and pics that the operator was posting on Social Media sites prior to the accident. I think that this tragedy happened due to the operators distractive behaviour He should have been focusing on the task of dismantling the crane with professionalism and safety rather than posting vids and selfies to social media sites.

Airplane pilots, during takeoff or landing, have a policy that is called "Sterile Cockpit", where there is no idle conversation. Anything said out loud needs to be important to the task at hand, and the pilots are to focus on the controls.

So it is rather ironic that a recent article said crane opterators are "like Pilots"(https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn ... -top-notch) when there is social media activity showing the opposite.

that being said, these videos show a "Cowboy Mentality" that got them killed.

[JLives]

I feel so bad for those poor guys and their families. I wonder if the rush to get these buildings up is causing companies to compromise safety.

At the end of the day, it's up to the crane company to follow safety procedures, it's up to the most senior guy there to make sure safety is followed, and fix the issues as he sees them. There's nobody above them at that moment (literally). That's why I don't understand why people knock Mission Group - it was these 5 workers there, Mission Group doesn't have to supervise them.

But the most senior guy was probably the one who was filming the video for Instagram.

At the end of the day it's up to Mission Group, as prime contractor, to ensure all subcontractors are following safety procedures.

[LANDM]

Did anyone else notice how fast John Friesen from the Mission Group distanced himself and his company from Stremmer Construction.

Yes, as he should have. People are trying to blame him and MG even knowing that it wasn’t his employees, crane, company, or control.
Why would he not distance himself appropriately?

[soupy]

Did anyone else notice how fast John Friesen from the Mission Group distanced himself and his company from Stremmer Construction.

Yes, as he should have. People are trying to blame him and MG even knowing that it wasn’t his employees, crane, company, or control.
Why would he not distance himself appropriately?

Because MG is Prime Contractor and they will have to prove their due diligence they did everything in their power to ensure site safety. They better hope they can.
If they didn't do everything that is reasonably practicable they will be receiving WorkSafeBC orders and possibly Penalties relating to the coordination of multi-employer worksites.