Four dead in Toronto construction collapse

[pencilneckgeek2]

Four men died instantly and another is in the hospital clinging to life after the scaffolding outside a 13th floor balcony they were working on collapsed. The incident happened at a high-rise on Kipling Ave. at Steeles around 4:30 p.m.


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...-1-hurt-after-fall-at-kipling-finch-high-rise

 

[HOF]

Prayers and solemn condolences to their families and friends. Very tragic.

Life life to the fullest and have no regrets.

 

[pencilneckgeek2]

....

 

[Aardvark154]

Prayers and solemn condolences to their families and friends.

Indeed how horrible on Christmas Eve.

Then one has to ask the question what kind of company has it's employees still working after four o'clock on Christmas Eve!

 

[papasmerf]

My heart goes out to the families.

But I have to ask why these men were not wearing saftey harnesses and fall arresters?

A simple device which could have saved their lives.

 

[tboy]

My heart goes out to the families.

But I have to ask why these men were not wearing saftey harnesses and fall arresters?

A simple device which could have saved their lives.

believe it or not, they could have been attached to the scaffolding hence why they died.

I was working on a billboard once using a genie lift (about 60 feet in the air) and we were wearing harnesses. The guy I was working with attached himself to the lift, I attached mine to the billboard. He was afraid of falling out, I was afraid of the genie falling over (we were in a farmer's field out east towards kingston on rough terrain).

My logic is: if I'm going to fall, being attached to the billboard structure will prevent me from hitting the ground. If the genie flips over? I will still be safe because I won't hit the ground OR have the fricken thing fall on top of me....

13 floors...jesus. Goes to show you one MUST follow all safety protocols......

jesus, in trypical newspaper fashion it wasn't a fricken scaffold, it was a swing stage and they SHOULD have been attached to it and if they had, they'd be still alive.....

mumblemumblefricken news papers getting the facts wrong mumble mumble mumble......

 

[james t kirk]

believe it or not, they could have been attached to the scaffolding hence why they died.

I was working on a billboard once using a genie lift (about 60 feet in the air) and we were wearing harnesses. The guy I was working with attached himself to the lift, I attached mine to the billboard. He was afraid of falling out, I was afraid of the genie falling over (we were in a farmer's field out east towards kingston on rough terrain).

My logic is: if I'm going to fall, being attached to the billboard structure will prevent me from hitting the ground. If the genie flips over? I will still be safe because I won't hit the ground OR have the fricken thing fall on top of me....

13 floors...jesus. Goes to show you one MUST follow all safety protocols......

jesus, in trypical newspaper fashion it wasn't a fricken scaffold, it was a swing stage and they SHOULD have been attached to it and if they had, they'd be still alive.....

mumblemumblefricken news papers getting the facts wrong mumble mumble mumble......

Exactly.

Always tie off to something other than what you're in - if you can.

Sometimes though, the only thing you can attach to is the platform itself - as in this case. (It's better than nothing.)

Odds are - if they had harnesses, they were not attached because even if they were attached to the railings on the swing stage, they would have been saved. I've seen many a guy with a full fall arrest harness on and just attaching the lanyard to the front of the harness.

In looking at the photo - it's hard to see, but it looks like the platform is literally cut in half. That doesn't add up because when steel fails, it bends and twists, it doesn't shear like that. Also, because the break is in the middle, it's a bending failure, not a shear failure.

So, I can only guess that the platform was made up of a series of panels and the joint failed, or someone sabotaged the platform (a possibility), or perhaps a crack in the beams of the platform - but cracks occur due to metal fatigue. If there was a connection and it was under designed, cracks could develope.

Sad for sure.

I read that link to the star and I can't believe some stupid bitch was complaining about the noise. Talk about a selfish moron.

 

[tboy]

yeah, that isn't a scaffold, that's a swing stage and from the looks of it, it failed at a joint...maybe the fastners weren't installed properly? James, you're right, it is too clean a break to be fatigue or damage.

With swing stages, even then there are supposed to be life lines run up to the roof for you to attached the harness to. I saw a program on window washers for the sears tower in Chicago and they had those grippers that attached to the life line that they had to manually slide down the rope when the stage was being lowered.

After reading that they were laughing and joking I'm starting to think that maybe they were fucking around.

None the less, it is sad to see a bunch of guys killed while trying to make a living. On Christmas eve no less....shit.......

 

[S.C. Joe]

I know here in the USA the owner of the company would be facing one heck of a fine and some major lawsuits over this. Maybe even criminal charges. (yeah pretty sure somebody would be in jail over this very soon)

Its uncalled for! There should have been strict safety guidelines followed. 1 death sometimes could happen but 4, no way. This is 2010 just about, things like this should never happen. Not with professional workers.

Something is very wrong somehow that this happen.

Gee, I thought I was reading about an accident in Mexico or China when I frist seen it in the T Star.

How very sad and X mas eve, boy oh boy. RIP

 

[james t kirk]

I feel sorry for the owner (unless he was one of the dead) becaue right now I'm sure his guts are just torn out. N-one wants something like this to happen.

I can only guess that the harnesses were not attached.

As I said, I wish I had a dime for every time I've seen a guy wearing a harness with the lanyard clipped to the harness.

 

[tboy]

I was thinking about that too joe: the company is in deep shit but if the company supplied safety harness', and paid to train the men, and the men didn't follow the company's direction, the company is safe.

I know when I was a site super I had to constantly watch for idiots not wearing harnesses. I saw a coring guy without one (4' from the edge) and told him twice, the second time I said "if I see you without one one more time, you're off the site....". The developer had them in the office for everyone to use, it's not like we made them buy their own (like others do).

 

[my2cents]

The guys should have had a seperate line to be attached to since the swing stage would not have supported them from the fall unless there was a rated point to attach to. A simple life line rope with an attachment that rides up and down is common to attach to where no rated point exists. The alternate would have been a retractable life line that locks when a fall occurs.
The way I understand zoom booms, scissor lifts etc is that tieing off to them is fall restraint so you won't lean too far since if you use the equipment as it was designed it won't fall over. Fallarrest is a different case since it is suppose to stop a fall and the shock absorber in your lanyard is to absorb some of the impact.
I know the big question everyone is asking is where was the fall protection and it makes you wonder if they were wearing their harness but not tied off since it happens often because it is awkward and limiting. This is a terrible tragedy.

 

[papasmerf]

The guys should have had a seperate line to be attached to since the swing stage would not have supported them from the fall unless there was a rated point to attach to. A simple life line rope with an attachment that rides up and down is common to attach to where no rated point exists. The alternate would have been a retractable life line that locks when a fall occurs.
The way I understand zoom booms, scissor lifts etc is that tieing off to them is fall restraint so you won't lean too far since if you use the equipment as it was designed it won't fall over. Fallarrest is a different case since it is suppose to stop a fall and the shock absorber in your lanyard is to absorb some of the impact.
I know the big question everyone is asking is where was the fall protection and it makes you wonder if they were wearing their harness but not tied off since it happens often because it is awkward and limiting. This is a terrible tragedy.

If they were properly tied off there would not be 4 dead from this.

 

[my2cents]

I was thinking about that too joe: the company is in deep shit but if the company supplied safety harness', and paid to train the men, and the men didn't follow the company's direction, the company is safe.

I know when I was a site super I had to constantly watch for idiots not wearing harnesses. I saw a coring guy without one (4' from the edge) and told him twice, the second time I said "if I see you without one one more time, you're off the site....". The developer had them in the office for everyone to use, it's not like we made them buy their own (like others do).

I've seen guys not give a second warning just straight up "put the harness on now or get off the site now". Examples like this accident shows why a no tollerance approach is imposed so often. Your right alot of idiots out there and too many times accidents are a result of idiots. Like you said training is also key.

 

[Aardvark154]

Whether is has any bearing at all on the safety harness issue I don't know. But I read that all of those who died yesterday were migrant workers.

 

[nottyboi]

The scaffolding is still hanging on the building, which seems to indicate they should have been ok if they were using harnesses. Very sad, these poor guys came to Canada to do a dangerous job and earn a buck. It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals. I can't imagine anyone not insisting their workers use harnesses. I would be a wreck if people who worked for me were killed or badly injured.

 

[S.C. Joe]

How bout the folks living in that building?

The star is reporting now that 2 bodies are still on the ground. The scaffolding is hanging over them and its unsafe to move them. The orange trap blew away too and you can see their bodies from high up. Gee they hit so hard I wounder if their bodies sank a bit in the ground and will have to be dug up...or if you try to pull them away their bodies would fall apart.

Star is saying the are 20 to 30 years old, so young and healthy.

This might be the most tragic incident in quite a while around Toronto. What a mess to clean up and plus the is still more work to be done on the building.

There are shootings all the time but those are cleaned up quicker and 4 or 5 people don't die at once (we will see if the 5th guy lives).

Those folks living in that building must be shaking, they have to walk right by the site going in and out.

The police who responded to the scene must have been shocked up too, sure they see alot of nasty stuff but this must be near the top of the worst site they seen.

And yeah, these were not punks with guns or dope but hard working guys who just overlook basic safety.

 

[tboy]

SC Joe: well, I guess some people (re: tenants) who might be over sensitive. Death is a part of life and two bodies being 'seen' is not that big of a deal. I haven't seen fall victims up close and personal but I've seen the aftermath of worse: tramatic amputation and the smear after someone fell (if I remember correctly) 10 stories.

However, with that being said, two things could be done immediately:
1) Secure the swing stage so there is no danger of it falling
2) remove the swing stage

But, if they haven't finished the investigation, then I can understand the desire to not disturb the scene (ie: messing with the stage).

I mean seriously, from the pics they have direct access to the swing stage via a balcony and it would be easy to simply tie it off so there is no danger of it falling and no danger of it swinging around in these high winds we're experiencing.

 

[syn]

Migrant workers

Migrant workers who were working till 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve. I wonder how much money they were getting paid.

Their poor families back home.

I hope there is a full investigation.

Syn

 

[my2cents]

I heard a report that the swing stage is secured to the balconies to avoid it swinging in the wind.
In regards to investigation, the ministry of labour will investigate and can lay charges that can result in jail time and fines.
The problem investigating is of course if the owner of the company was one of the guys who fell.
I am hoping that whomever the owners are that they did promote safety and followed the rules. If they go for the "I didn't know the rules" deffence the Ministry of Labour has no sympathy for anyone not know the rules especially when it results in an accident or death.