WorkSafeBC says it is investigating a crane incident in Vancouver’s Oakridge neighbourhood, two days after new provincial regulations for tower cranes came into effect.
A spokesperson said in an email that the workplace safety agency had been notified of an incident in the 600 block of West 41st Avenue at about 2 p.m. PT Wednesday. The address is the site of the huge Oakridge Park redevelopment.
WorkSafeBC sent an officer to the site and is investigating what happened. It said it would not release specific details of the incident until its investigation is done, but no injuries were reported.
It’s the latest in a wave of crane mishaps across Lower Mainland construction sites, including a fatal incident at the Oakridge site in February, when a worker was killed after a tower crane dropped its load onto a building that fell onto a person below, killing them.
Last week, a mechanical failure of a construction crane forced the temporary closure of surrounding roads and the neighbouring VCC-Clark SkyTrain station.
New crane regulations
The new regulations will give WorkSafeBC more information on where and when tower cranes are used in the province and help the company ensure they are operated by qualified workers. They came into effect on Tuesday.
Under the new regulations, employers must submit notice to WorkSafeBC two weeks before erecting, climbing, repositioning and dismantling tower cranes.
They must also inform the agency when the work will happen, who is responsible for supervising the work, and what the supervisor’s qualifications are.
Earlier this year, WorkSafeBC conducted a review and consultations to address safety issues after a series of crane incidents. The review resulted in the new regulations, plus a strategy that aims to improve crane safety in B.C.
Recommendations from the strategy include a review of the existing crane operator certification program and expanding the agency’s existing crane inspection team.
The fatal incident at Oakridge Park in February is still under investigation by WorkSafeBC.
Through a freedom of information request, CBC News unearthed a series of complaints from workers about safety at the site between Jan. 1, 2023, and Feb. 29, 2024.
CBC News has obtained documents through a freedom of information request that show numerous crane incidents were documented at the Oakridge construction site over the course of a year. As Jon Hernandez reports, workers had raised concerns about several near misses at the site before a woman was killed in a crane incident in February.