Date of incident: November 2021
Notice of incident number: 2021175280004
Employers: Electrical services company; construction company (prime contractor)

Incident summary
A worker was assisting electricians in a commercial building under construction. He was on the third floor of the building, running wire from an electrical vault to an elevator shaft, then coiling and labelling the wire. He fell approximately 12.2 m (40 ft.) down the elevator shaft and sustained life-threatening injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker fell through unguarded opening in platform. A non-engineered work platform had been constructed at the third-floor level of the elevator shaft. The work platform had unprotected openings in it. There was an inadequate guardrail to restrict access to this work platform and no other fall protection method in place. There was no lighting in the elevator shaft. The worker stood on the platform to coil and label wires, and he fell through the opening between the work platform and the elevator shaft wall.

Contributing factors

• Unsafe work platform. The work platform in the elevator shaft, which was constructed by the prime contractor, had several holes and gaps in it, creating fall hazards. The prime contractor was aware that workers were working around the elevator shaft and platform but did not identify the hazard, adequately restrict access, have an effective fall protection system in place, or require the employer to provide a risk assessment for the work being performed.
• Inadequate supervision. The worker did not receive any direction about how to safely accomplish the task he had been assigned, and it was not clear who was acting as his supervisor. The worker was left alone for hours at a time without any oversight. There were also no documented safety talks about working around the elevator shaft where the worker was completing his task.
• Lack of safe work procedures. The employer did not provide any evidence to show that it had any safe work procedures for the work being performed by the worker at the time of the incident.
• Lack of site inspection, hazard identification, and risk assessment. There is no evidence to indicate that the employer or the prime contractor completed any written workplace inspections, hazard identifications, or risk assessments regarding working on or near the fall hazard that existed on the platform.

Other health and safety issues

• Lack of new worker orientation. The worker had not received a site orientation for the workplace from the employer or from the prime contractor. The employer was unable to provide any documentation of training records or new worker site orientations for the worker, and the prime contractor was unable to provide documentation for worksite orientations for any of the employer’s workers.
• Prime contractor failed to maintain safe workplace. The prime contractor failed to do everything that is reasonably practicable to establish and maintain a system or process that will ensure compliance with Part 2 of the Workers Compensation Act and with the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation in respect of the workplace. The prime contractor failed to orient workers to the workplace, identify workplace hazards, maintain a safe workplace, and ensure the health and safety of other workers present at the workplace.
• Lack of occupational health and safety program. At the time of the incident, the employer employed five electricians and four helpers. As a small operation according to the Regulation, the employer was required to have a less formal health and safety program, but it was unable to provide evidence of any such program.

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