CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – WorkSafeBC has ordered for all demolition work to stop at the old Catalyst Paper mill site.
This is after a worker fell through a floor in one of the old buildings at the site. The worker was uninjured, but the interior collapse caused a rupture on a 400-pound oxygen tank and a 100-pound propane cylinder.
According to a report from WorkSafeBC, ABC Recycling Ltd. did not engage a professional engineer to provide advice on structural support for a building about to be demolished.
As the old building on the site was in the process of being demolished, the report said it was “structurally compromised,” which was why an interior floor collapsed with the worker inside. This in turn exposed the worker “to serious injury or death.”
WorkSafeBC said in the report that buildings about to be demolished, whole or in part, must always be supported in a way prescribed by an engineer.
The stop-work order will be in place until the company complies with all of WorkSafeBC’s safety safety orders.
Since the stop-work order and the release of the report, ABC Recycling Ltd. has hired an engineer to advise on how to demolish the site safely.
