An experienced construction worker grievously injured last week when a high wind apparently flung him off a third floor construction site in Saanich has died.
WorkSafe B.C. is promising a full investigation into the circumstances that claimed the life of Roland Huetzelmann, 51.
He was on the job at the Shire Urban Living condo under construction in the 3300 block of Glasgow Street on Jan. 10 when the accident occurred about 1 p.m.
B.C. Coroners Service spokeswoman Barb McLintock said the injured man died Sunday morning at Victoria General Hospital.
“A gust of wind come up and a piece of plywood came up and it literally tossed him over the edge and the railing and he landed on his back on the concrete,” Huetzelmann’s girlfriend Corinne Desjarlais told CHEK News.
Huetzelmann suffered crushing injuries to his skull, spine and pelvis, which ultimately claimed his life. Desjarlais said she could not understand why work continued in the face of winds she described as “so horrific for days.”
Nearly 10,000 households were without power in Greater Victoria that day, with B.C. Hydro citing the windstorm as the cause.
Wind reached 70 km/h that day at Gonzales and 60 km/h at the University of Victoria. Environment Canada cautioned that the winds were strong enough to damage roofs or windows, or cause branches to break off trees.
WorkSafe B.C. spokesperson Trish Knight Chernicki said she could not comment on particulars of the case until she receives an inspection report. Not could she discuss the family’s call for mandatory tethers for workers on low and mid-rise construction sites even when safety railings are present.
“I want to make a difference for him, so his death wasn’t in vain,” Desjarlais said.
WorkSafe statistics show that of 122 death claims on the job accepted in 2015, 29 were in construction. The previous year, 45 out of 175 deaths occurred in the construction field.
In terms of disability and death claims in 2015, nine percent resulted from “falls from elevation” compared with 12 per cent of claims coming from falls on a level surface.
Construction crews were back at Glasgow project on Monday.
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CHEK News report: Construction worker killed in Saanich
