[Healthandsafety] BC News

["Barry Doyle" <bdoyle@cupe.ca>]

Excavator rolls into mud-filled pit: Death
MetroValley Newspaper Group 
Tue 12 Jun 2007 
Page: 00A1 

Section: Abbotsford News - News 

The 31-year-old Surrey man who died after the excavator he was driving rolled into a mud-filled pit in Abbotsford Saturday morning started his job only over a week ago. 
The accident happened just before 9 a.m. at a rock quarry in the 1000 block of Bradner Road. 
The victim ? whose name has not been released ? was reportedly working on a dam, between two pools of silt in the quarry, when it slipped and fell on its side into one of the pools. 
?When emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found an excavator that was fully submerged with one person that was trapped inside,? said acting Abbotsford Police Sgt. Roger Gosal. 
?It took multiple agencies several hours to bring the excavator upright.? 
The victim, who was working for B & B Contracting of Surrey, was unable to escape from the cab and was pronounced dead at the scene. 
?At WorkSafe BC, we believe that all workplace injuries and fatalities are preventable,? said Donna Freeman of WorkSafe BC. 
?We will investigate this incident to determine what happened and identify what lessons can be learned so that something similar does not happen in future to another worker.? 
Last year, there were 160 work-related deaths in B.C., according to WorkSafe BC. 
Of these, 61 were from occupational disease, and 30 from motor vehicle accidents. The remaining 69 resulted from workplace injuries. 
As of May 30 this year, WorkSafe BC has accepted 58 claims for workplace fatalities. 
Some will be occupational disease deaths, from exposures that may have happened 20 years ago from asbestos. Others will be work-related motor vehicle accidents (truck loggers, commercial drivers or workers driving as part of their employment). 
The remainder will be work-related deaths fromáa traumatic injury, such as a fall from an elevation. 
The most recent workplace fatality in the Abbotsford and Mission area happened on May 17, when the gravel truck Kelsey Kristian was operating rolled over, leaving her pinned underneath. 
The 22-year-old had started her job with Stave Lake Quarries in Mission just four days earlier. 
Copyright 2007 Abbotsford News 
Idnumber: 200706120006 


Barry Doyle
Senior Officer, Health and Safety
Canadian Union of Public Employees
21 Florence St. 
Ottawa, ON K2P 0W6
o.613-237-1590 x289
f. 613-233-3438
bdoyle@cupe.ca
www.cupe.ca