Green Line subcontractor loses toe in workplace safety incident

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A Green Line subcontractor had his toes amputated last month after the LRT project’s first worker safety incident, project CEO Darshpreet Bhatti said.

Bhatti explained what led to the worker’s injury during a progress report to the Green Line board on Thursday. He said the incident occurred on June 12 at the 78th Avenue SE construction site by two subcontractors performing different tasks.

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“This is obviously a very unfortunate situation for this individual because now they have something they have to live with for the rest of their life,” he told reporters after the meeting. “So this is something we cannot take lightly. We need to make sure we fully understand what happened and how we can make sure this doesn’t happen at any other site.”

Although he could not provide any details about the incident, Bhatti said it appeared one of the subcontractors was working inside a precast concrete culvert and another was operating an excavator nearby. According to Bhatti, the latter worker came across an abandoned underground pipe and attempted to remove it with his excavator’s bucket.

The typical approach to finding disused pipes would be to dig around the pipe, cut it into pieces and then move it out of the way, Bhatti said.

“We suspect – we do not yet have the full results of the report – that the excavator operator may have tried to pull the pipe out with the excavator’s bucket rather than digging around it,” he noted.

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This caused the pipe to break into pieces, at least one of which became a high-speed projectile, Bhatti said. The piece flew toward the other person, who was 30 feet away, and struck him in the foot.

Although the worker was wearing steel-toed boots, Bhatti said the projectile missed the protected part of the boot and struck his foot with such force that it still caused enough damage to sever some of his toes.

After the incident, Bhatti said, work was stopped immediately, an ambulance was called and the injured worker was taken to the hospital. Despite the efforts of the doctors, the worker lost some of his toes.

According to Bhatti, this was the first time a worker was injured since work on the Green Line began. He added that dozens of safety inspections are carried out every month at the project’s various construction sites.

“We have been very lucky so far thanks to the efforts of our team and partners,” he said. “Accidents can happen and unfortunately this one did happen.”

“Losing a body part is not an insignificant thing for me. This is a big deal for us, especially given the importance our board attaches to the project for safety reasons.”

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OHS examination

A statement from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) confirmed that an investigation into a workplace accident that occurred on June 12 was underway and corroborated Bhatti’s account of the incident.

“It is always a tragedy when a worker is injured on the job,” OHS said. “The goal of the Government of Alberta is for every worker to return home safely at the end of each day’s work.”

The injured worker is currently on the road to recovery, according to OHS. Since the investigation is ongoing, no further details will be released, the organization said.

Because the injury involved a subcontractor, Bhatti said the worker’s employer is responsible for handling all legal and insurance aspects of the incident.

“Our focus is to ensure that the person involved receives medical attention,” he said. “The subcontractor and contractor have taken the appropriate steps to treat the other person who was involved in the incident itself.”

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