Jaw-dropping incident caught on camera 'had the potential for serious injury'
We’re learning new details about the collapse of an excavated shoring retention wall last week in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which documents show “had the potential for serious injury.”
Fortunately, nobody was hurt during the collapse which was caught on camera and shared on social media.
Catastrophic failure at County Green construction site North Rd. Coquitlam. _ Vancouver from Key Media on Vimeo.
Canadian Occupational Safety received inspection reports from WorkSafeBC which outline in detail how the collapse unfolded.
A problem was first spotted around 11:00 am on Wednesday November 29, when a worker from the employer, Vancouver Shotcrete & Shoring Inc., noticed some pebbles falling from the northwest face of the wall.
The worker contacted the prime contractor, Amacon Construction Ltd., and the area was evacuated. The engineer from Geopacific Consultants Ltd. was notified and asked to attend the site.
By about 1:30 pm a crack had formed in the middle of the wall. “The prime contractor, with the assistance of the traffic control persons from Green Country Excavating Ltd. (who were performing civil contracting work on the east side of the property along Whiting Way), closed Foster Avenue to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic,” reads the WorkSafeBC inspection report.
The City of Coquitlam was notified and so was FortisBC and BC Hydro because there were underground utilities that could be at risk.
At about 4:45 pm the wall collapsed. An overnight road closure around the area was put in place and an overnight watch was arranged.
When the WorkSafeBC inspector returned to the site on Thursday November 30, “the excavated wall had continued to collapse overnight. A rock slinger truck was on site pouring gravel into the excavation in preparation to backfill the excavation at 1 vertical to 1 horizontal in the affected area as per the instructions of the engineer. No workers are permitted to be in the excavation.”
WorkSafeBC has not issued any orders, but it has requested Vancouver Shotcrete and Shoring provide the following documents.
- The written inspection record for the re-inspection of the entire bulk excavation
- The written instructions prior to workers re-entering the excavation
- The written instructions for how to re-excavate the backfilled materials adjacent to the affected area
“This employer was also informed without delay to conduct a preliminary incident investigation within 48 hours of the incident and to complete a full incident investigation within 30 days of the incident and provide a written copy to WorkSafeBC once completed but not later than December 29, 2023,” reads the report.
Canadian Occupational Safety reached out to Vancouver Shotcrete and Shoring, but requests for comment have gone unanswered. The company’s website lists Caleb Christensen as the health and safety manager, but an email sent to the address listed bounced back, with a message reading “Caleb is no longer with Vancouver Shotcrete.”
Following the incident, Amacon issued a statement saying all the required permits were attained, vetted and monitored by the geotechnical and engineering consultants.
Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. is the regulator overseeing the engineering and geoscience professions in the province. It is conducting its own investigation.
