Crane collapses at construction site in Surrey

A crane has collapsed at a construction site in the community of Whalley in Surrey, B.C.

The arm of the crane seems to have broken and fallen into the area where a high rise was being built.

The construction site is located near the corner of 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard.

2:14 Investigation underway after Surrey construction crane collapse

In a statement, Axiom Builders, the company involved said the incident happened at 7 a.m. during a daily safety check.

The company confirms no one was injured in the incident.

“WorkSafe is now onsite with a team of inspectors to thoroughly investigate the cause of this incident, and our team will work with them to ensure a comprehensive assessment,” Dennis Brode, director of health and safety at Axiom Builders said in the statement.

“The safety of our workers and the surrounding community is our priority, and we are committed to providing updates as we gather more information.”

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Josh Towsley, assistant business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers, said they have been calling for the government to mandate certification for crane operators for years.

“We are pushing for it. We think that work is so safety sensitive that the contractors who do that work should be licenced and there should be minimum training for people that do that work… and on the tower crane side we are working with SkilledTradesBC today on making it mandatory to be certified as a tower crane operator.”

There have been several incidents involving cranes over the last five years, but Towsley said that the industry has been lucky over the last five years.

“The fact that we have had two incidents in four days, well it doesn’t seem like anyone has been fatally injured it is pure luck and we can’t rely on pure luck going forward.”

Crews are expected to come and dismantle the crane and put up a new one in the coming days.

Global News has reached out to the Ministry of Post Secondary Education and Future Skills for comment.

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In a statement to Global News, WorkSafeBC said employers must follow specific regulations related to cranes and hoists, specifically Part 14 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, Cranes and Hoists.

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation requires employers to ensure that a professional engineer provides annual certification of mobile cranes.

In the province, all crane operators must have the certification that WorkSafeBC agrees allows them to operate cranes in three categories: boom trucks, mobile cranes, or tower cranes.

“Effective March 1, 2023, regulations stipulate that a tower crane working in proximity to high voltage electrical equipment, or tower cranes with overlapping operating zones, must be equipped with a zone-limiting device to prevent collision,” according to the statement.

“Effective Jan. 1, 2024, no one may operate a concrete pump or placing boom at a workplace unless they hold a valid concrete pump operator certificate issued by a certification authority approved by WorkSafeBC.