June 15, 2010

Worker survives being buried at Rempel Brothers concrete plant

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

VANCOUVER

WorkSafeBC has launched an investigation into work procedures at Rempel Brothers concrete plant in Coquitlam, after a 60 year-old millwright was rescued recently from a sand storage bin.

“He was at the top of a sand storage bin doing some maintenance work on a grizzly grate, which is a bunch of pipes that go across the top of the bin to keep people and machine from falling in,” said Rempel operations manager Tim Graham.

“We were replacing the grate, because it was worn out. It had been removed and we were preparing to install an new one.”

The millwright, an employee of Rempel, was welding metal bars outside of the large bin.

“This is where it gets foggy and we don’t know exactly what happened,” said Graham.

“We don’t know how he ended up in the sand. That is to be determined by the investigation.”

Donna Freeman with WorkSafeBC said a call was received shortly after the incident.

The millwright and another worker were doing the repair work, when one of the workers was drawn into the silo below.

“It was an ongoing incident at that point and rescue workers were trying to extricate the man from the sand,” she said. “The machine may have been turned on by another worker.”

The rescue effort began with pairs of firemen delicately shoveling sand, but trying to be careful not to bury the man further. However, the sand filled up the holes as quickly as it was taken out.

A city of Coquitlam vacuum truck, which is normally used for storm sewer work, was eventually able to suck up enough material to free the man.

The extraction took two hours and involved about 40 firemen, plant employees, ambulance attendants, city workers and police.

“A WorkSafeBC investigator attended the scene and was looking at lock out, work procedures, supervision and communication,” said Freeman.

The man was taken to Eagle Ridge Hospital to determine if he was suffering from a condition called the crushing syndrome, which occurs when the outer limbs have been deprived of blood.

According to Graham, the important thing is that there was a happy ending.

“He wasn’t injured and at no point was he uncomfortable. He was breathing,” Graham said. “He is back to work. He is his usual happy self and is back to his regular duties.”

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