A worker was injured recently as a result of an accident at a salvage yard in southern Saskatchewan. In the end, it was a miracle that his injuries weren’t far worse.

The accident occurred as the driver had just finished weighing and backing his waste management truck into the Silver Star Salvage scrap yard in Moose Jaw. After getting out of his truck, the driver climbed a ladder at the back of the vehicle to unload the truck’s bin. As he opened the bin, he fell from the ladder, as two large pieces of pipe began to roll out. One became jammed in the truck, but the other rolled onto the worker after he fell to the ground. The pipe that landed on the driver weighed 648 pounds.

Other workers immediately rushed to help the worker, and an ambulance arrived in less than 10 minutes. According to Moose Jaw & District EMS officials, although the 38-year-old worker sustained a “severe injury” and was in “great pain,” he had no internal injuries, nothing was broken, and the injuries were deemed non-life-threatening. It is unknown, however, how long it will be before he would be back at work.

Experts consider the type of bin on the truck the driver was operating, in which two doors open in the middle – is old and outdated. Most current bins have a single door that opens from one side, and that design prevents the driver from being in the position that caused the injury.

Still think you’re saving money by hanging onto old, outdated equipment?

A recent inquest into the death of 72-year-old builder Domenico Ranieri at a Saint John construction site in Saint John points to a number of safety lapses that contributed to the accident.

In October 2008, Ranieri, the owner of East Coast Rental Equipment Ltd, and a co-worker were securing 500-pound roof trusses for a warehouse storage shed being constructed when the trusses gave way after a brace was removed. Ranieri was killed and his co-worker injured after falling approximately 20 feet from the roof.

A WorkSafeNB investigation highlighted a number of concerns, including the fact that the gable was inadequately braced. According to the report, the lumber used for bracing was of insufficient size and length, and was inadequately nailed. Also, the spacing distance between the lines of lateral bracing at the truss top cord was beyond the normal limit. They also noted that neither worker was wearing any personal protective equipment or fall arrest systems.

The accident prompted several recommendations from the coroner’s jury, including a call for building inspectors and field engineers to “obtain basic knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to be able to identify potential violations.” They also recommended that WorkSafeNB’s building inspectors and field officers be given the right to restrict access to a work site which is apparently unoccupied if there is a perceived non-compliance to the building code or OHSA. This restriction applies until they are able to issue a stop work order. Apparently, a WorkSafeNB inspector had been on site earlier that morning, before the accident, but was unable to conduct an inspection because no one was there. Not long after he left, he received the call about the accident.

They also called for copies of building permits for non-residential projects to be sent to WorkSafeNB, so that they could establish a schedule of site visits to ensure compliance with the OHSA as construction progresses. Currently, WorkSafeNB is not notified of building permits issued by the City; instead that information is sent to Service New Brunswick. They also recommended that building permits also be displayed in plain view on every job site.

The presiding coroner also suggested that building designers be required to provide detailed truss erection instructions for all commercial buildings spanning more than 40 feet, seven inches, because the general instructions provided by truss manufacturers “have a little a caveat there that these instructions are good for installations up to 40 feet seven inches.” Any structure beyond that specified dimension requires the consultation of a professional engineer.