Ontario's Ministry of Labour investigating the incident
Two Toronto Hydro contractors were injured while working in a cable chamber, according to a report from The Canadian Press.
The two utility workers were working for a third-party contractor in one of the employer’s cable chambers when the incident happened early on Saturday.
The utility was “still gathering details” about what was only described as an “incident,” said spokesperson Lauren Harris in a written statement, according to the report.
Toronto Fire Services were dispatched to Lake Shore Boulevard and Don Roadway shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday. There, a utility crew was reported to be working in a concrete vault used to bury electrical wires.
There was a “light haze” of smoke coming out of an underground utility vault, Capt. Dan Vieira said. However, there was no fire and nothing had to be extinguished.
Paramedics took one man to a local trauma centre with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. They also took a second man to hospital with minor injuries, according to The Canadian Press report published in The Globe and Mail.
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has assigned an investigator to look into the incident.
“Our thoughts go out to the individuals and their families and our focus remains on ensuring that crews and the public are safe,” said Harris in the Toronto Hydro statement.
“We are grateful to the first responders for their quick response and care.”
Between 500 and 1,000 Toronto Hydro customers in the area where the incident happened were without power for several hours on Saturday due to an outage that started around 1 a.m., according to the report.
