Dangerous work practices are to blame for the death of a worker who was killed when he was trapped by quartz slabs that toppled over while unloading a container, the CNESST concludes.
On July 1, the man was busy unloading heavy quartz slabs from a container for the company Comptoir Supérieur in Farnham, in the Eastern Townships region.
The material handler had entered the container to unload the slabs. When the straps holding them in place were released, the quartz slabs tipped over, pinning the man against the container wall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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The Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) notes that the worker was positioned in a hazardous area inside the container during unloading.
“To control the risk of the slabs tipping over and to prevent anyone from being struck by a falling slab, it is imperative that no one be in the fall zone at any time once the slabs’ securing equipment has been removed,” the inspectors wrote in their report.
They also point out that, initially, the slabs were improperly loaded into the container, to the point of causing the floor to warp and a support to break, which compromised the stability of the slabs.
“The load is not distributed evenly across the entire floor.”
The total weight of the 72 slabs in the container was 24,768 kilograms.
Through calculations, the inspectors concluded that “the load imposed on the floor beneath the stringers is five times greater than its strength, thereby creating the excessive deflection in the form of curvature observed during unloading of the cargo.”
Ultimately, “since the slabs were unstable, the removal of the ratchet straps was sufficient to cause the slabs to tip over on the right side.”
On site, workers had attempted to free the man. Emergency services had been called, and firefighters had continued the effort to free him. The worker’s death was pronounced at the scene.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
