Charles Pothier, the occupational health and safety officer for the Nova Scotia Department of Labour, says workers who were guiding the placement of a panel being lifted by a crane that fell over are fortunate not to have been hurt.
The incident happened around 11 a.m. last Friday at the construction site of the new high school on Forest Street.
A video (click here) filmed by Rod Bezanson shows men at the base of the huge cement wall a few seconds prior to collapse of the 165-ton crane, owned by A.W. Leil Cranes & Equipment Ltd.
Pothier had interviewed half a dozen men by Tuesday afternoon regarding the incident. “When the crane came down, two panels fell. There was another panel beside where the crane tipped that broke the braces. That wall was unstable but they stabilized it today,” he said.
He says it will take at least one other crane, possibly two, to help upright the tipped machine.
“They’ll probably dismantle the boom, in order to do that,” he said.
The investigation is expected to be completed within the next day or so, weather conditions permitting.
