Scene where five construction workers fell from around the 12th floor when scaffolding collapsed on Christmas Eve at 2757 Kipling Ave.Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
The bodies of two construction workers lay uncovered where they fell Friday afternoon, a day after scaffolding collapsed at an apartment building in the Rexdale neighbourhood of Toronto.
Thirteen storeys above where they lay, half of that same metal platform hung from the building, swinging heavily in the breeze. Five workers had been repairing balconies at the apartment on Christmas Eve when the scaffolding snapped in two, sending the men plummeting to the ground.
Four were pronounced dead on the scene. The fifth was found alive and was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital with life-threatening injuries. None of their names have been released. The bodies were eventually removed from the scene just after 6 p.m. in the evening, more than 24 hours after the accident.
It's rare for so many fatalities to occur in a single incident. In all of 2008, 10 workers died from falls in the province, according to the Construction Safety Association of Ontario. Since 1990, the Ontario construction industry has had between 12 and 36 workplace fatalities per year. Last year there were 19, the CSAO said.
Falls are a leading cause of construction-related accidents, according to the association.
Police are investigating Thursday's accident and have launched a probe with the Ministry of Labour. An employee from the Ministry of Labour was on the scene Friday afternoon, but said the ministry would not comment on the case.
Staff Sergeant Egidio Roseto of the Toronto Police confirmed that the survivor of Thursday's accident underwent surgery Friday morning. The man was in an intensive-care unit in critical condition that afternoon, said George Akleh, shift manager at the hospital.
Police Constable Tony Vella said Thursday that all five men had been repairing balconies on the thirteenth floor of the high-rise when the scaffolding gave way.
"The scaffolding broke for unknown reasons," he said. "All five men fell to the ground."
The Ministry of Labour "Construction Sector Plan" report for 2008/2009 identifies issues involved in improving health and safety on construction projects. On residential projects, which includes low-rise and high-rise buildings, falls were listed as one of the five "major hazards" involved in doing such work, along with the moving of equipment and materials, electrical hazards, excavations, and occupational disease.
Among the "key issues" related to such work listed in the report, scaffolding was the first item listed. Other issues included the unskilled work force, underground economy, and transient work force.
It was unclear Friday whether the men involved in the accident were migrant workers, as some local reports indicated earlier in the afternoon.
"We're still trying to confirm identities," said Staff Sgt. Roseto. One of the men had an Ontario Drivers License, he said. "My impression is they're not migrant workers … they're people who lived here," he said.
On Friday, a City of Toronto order to remedy an unsafe building hung on the front door of the high-rise, citing a contravention of the Building Code Act. The notice said that the scaffolding had failed, "resulting in two sections being held by a single anchor each, creating an unsafe condition."
Workers entered the building just after 2 p.m. Friday to secure the scaffolding so it would be safe to walk underneath, said Gary Howard, a consulting engineer brought in to work on the site. Because of the unsecured scaffolding, it was too risky to retrieve the remaining bodies until the evening when it was fixed to the building. "If it does blow down and fall, that could be serious injuries," Staff Sgt. David Gillis said earlier in the day.
The numbered company that owns the building released a statement Friday calling the event "a tragic jobsite accident." It added the owners would continue to co-operate with the investigation.
Building resident Zainab Fatima said she was first alerted to the accident by the multitude of emergency vehicles gathered below her window on Thursday.
"I saw all these police cars at the bottom so I was pretty surprised," she said.
Ms. Fatima said the building's residents had all been told not to go onto their balconies as they were being refurbished.
After about two months of work to fix cracks and fortify the balconies, Ms. Fatima was told Wednesday she could start using her balcony again.
"I feel so sorry for those people," she said. "They finished their work finally and then this."
Hamid Khalida, who owns a grocery store at the bottom of the building, said the incident had created quite a stir in the area on Christmas Eve.
"Five people went up," she said. "Now one is injured and four are dead."
The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. Thursday at 2757 Kipling Ave.
The men were all between 20 and 40 years of age, Staff Sergeant Roseto confirmed.
With a report from The Canadian Press