WORKSAFEBC is investigating the death of a worker who fell from the roof of a North Vancouver construction site in June.
Emergency responders and WorkSafeBC investigators were dispatched to a home under construction at 319 West 20th St. on June 14, after a roofing contractor tumbled six-and-a-half metres from the roof, sustaining "serious injury," according to WorkSafeBC inspection reports.
Burnaby-based BJ Roofing & Insulation Ltd. employees were bringing a load of construction materials to the roof when the incident happened. The man had just finished bringing a coworker some lumber to be used as a pad for a load of shingles being lifted to the roof with a crane.
As WorkSafeBC's investigation is ongoing, large parts of the initial report into the circumstances leading up to the fall are blacked out.
B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics rushed the injured man to hospital. He died two days later, according to the report.
The incident is a tragedy and has led to trauma for everyone involved, according to Bill Billy, manager and power of attorney for the company.
But, he said, the worker who fell never should have been on the roof in the first place as he wasn't in a harness.
"The only work that he did was bring up a piece of two-by-four on the direct order of the other worker. This was a fatal error on both workers' parts," Billy said. "He should have got down off the roof and got his own two-by-four."
The two had been friends for more than 20 years Billy said.
Billy also questions WorkSafeBC's early report suggesting the fault is on BJ Roofing.
"They always want to blame somebody else, but when is it the worker's fault?" he asked. "There are two guys up there that are responsible for the incident, and yet WorkSafeBC makes the roofing contractor look bad, they make the builder look bad."
The agency has concluded the company did not install any toeholds and the worker was not wearing a proper safety harness - both violations of occupational health and safety regulations.
The report also notes that BJ Roofing did not have a written fall-prevention plan on the job site. Later reports show BJ Roofing has complied with some of the initial orders given.
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