Canmore Fire–Rescue responded to a construction site emergency call Saturday (June 21) involving a 32-year-old male employee of V.J. Bishop Excavating LTD who was buried near Dead Man’s Flats.
Shortly after noon the worker was completely buried for several minutes in a collapsed trench according to first responders, who said he was in stable condition, but with serious injuries. A backhoe was used to scoop the worker out before rescuers arrived to provide medial care and he was breathing on his own, so CPR was not needed.
Canmore Fire–Rescue transported the patient from the scene to the Trans-Canada Highway, where an Alpine Helicopter airlifted the patient to Calgary Foothills Medical Centre.
“The employer was V.J. Bishop Excavating LTD and the prime contractor was Bremner Engineering and Construction and the incident happened about two kilomtres south of Dead Man’s Flats,” Lauren Welsh with Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) department said. “A worker entered a straight-cut trench that was about 3.9-metres deep. Part of the trench collapsed and buried him, he was transported to Foothill Hospital with broken bones.”
A stop work order was issued on the construction site by OHS, and is still in place for V.J. Bishop Excavating LTD at press time, with OHS’s investigation ongoing.
“A subcontractor for Bremner Engineering and Construction LTD was installing a water main going from Dead Man’s Flats water-waste, water servicing project,” Bill Luka, Director of Operations for MD of Bighorn said. “The site was up on the hill south of the highway. The trench excavation collapsed onto a worker and the worker was airlifted.
“We’re very fortunate and grateful that he’s now recovering in Foothills from his injuries. Occupational Health and Safety did come down and they are investigating the accident.”
“On our end, we did attend when we got the call and there was a worker who had been buried,” Sgt. Ryan Currie of Canmore RCMP said. “Workers got him out, and in an investigation like that we’ll turn it over to Occupational Health and Safety and they were on the scene and they’ll take over the investigation since there was nothing criminal ... we attended and took photographs, but our investigation is closed.”
OHS confirmed Bremner Engineering and Construction LTD, which is the prime contractor, did itself receive a stop work order for the construction site.
