The evaluation of the space for the crane in question in the death of a worker in Montreal

The CNESST concludes that it is a poor assessment of the space necessary to rotate a crane, in particular, which caused the death of a man, who died when a steel pole, who was thus hit, fell on him, 61 floors below.

It is a person in authority of a construction company, which was at the bottom of the tower, which died during a work accident on June 19, 2024 in downtown Montreal, specifies the committee of standards, fairness, health and safety of labor (CNESST) in its report.

During a rotation maneuver, as part of the disassembly of a crane placed at the top of a 61-story residential tower, the arrow of the crane had accidentally struck two steel posts from the railings, one of which had dropped on the man who was earthworks on the ground.

Workers dismantled the crane at the top of the tower. During a rotation maneuver, the arrow of the crane came into contact with two elements of structure of the permanent railings installed around the roof, relate the inspectors of the Cness.

The posts of around 109 kg each stand out from their base and drop to the ground. The person in authority is struck by the first post and died of his injuries.

It is A combination of factors who contributed to the erroneous evaluation of the clearance required to allow the rotation of the arrowexplain the authors of the report. Angles and distances varied according to the orientation of the crane, not to mention various elements to which workers had to pay attention in their environment.

Maltime dismantling

The second factor noted by the Cness is a deficient management of the disassembly of the crane, with regard to the planning and supervision of the works.

The company had made a certain planning of dismantling work, indicating on a plane the location of the arrow of the crane at the time of disassembly, but No supervision was carried out by the employer on the day of disassemblywrite the inspectors. All the responsibility has been to a worker, himself inexpensivethey write in their report.

During their planning, the employer and the project manager did not identify the risk of collision with a post or the prevention measures to be set up during the derrick dismantling work (the type of crane involved). In addition, they did not ensure that this work was carried out by an experienced worker, according to the manufacturer’s directives, under adequate supervisionconclude the inspectors of the Cness.