WorkSafe BC Shuts Down Water Line Repair Job
Sunday, May 26, 2013 @ 6:49 PM
A stop work order has been posted, and yellow tape marks the off limits zone – submitted photo
Prince George, B.C. – The residents of the Caledonia Mobile Home Park on North Nechako Road, will be spending at least one more night without water.
Residents say a contractor and a plumber were on site today, trying to fix the line, but say reps from WorkSafe B.C. attended, and shut down the job. One resident says WorkSafe has suspended the contractor from working for 90 days.
250News has attempted to contact a WorkSafe BC investigator but the office is not open until Monday. The Stop Work Order posted at the site, says all work has been ordered to cease because the site is an “unsafe excavation greater than 4ft in depth”. ( see photo at right) 
The problem started Friday, when a pool of water was forming on the grass in a green space at the end of a row of homes. That’s when it was s discovered a line had broken and the water was shut off.
An attempt to repair the line Friday failed.
Another attempt was made on Saturday, but no success.
Today, a contractor, and a plumber attended the scene as did WorkSafe BC. The job site was shut down, and according to residents, the contractor has been disciplined.
In the meantime, the 6’ deep hole that was dug to reach the broken line, has not been barricaded.
“There is a piece of yellow tape that says ’no work zone’ attached to a porch over to a machine and over the hole, but this hole is definitely not barricaded” says area resident Debra Burns.
When contacted by 250News, Peter Wang, the spokesman for the Mobile Home park’s owner (Mirae Investments), said the problem was to have been restored by this evening. He said the work had started Saturday, but “the soil collapsed”. He promised the hole would be filled in.
Residents have been advised to get their drinking water from the tap at the side of the North Nechako Foods store. That is little consolation to some of the neighbours says Burns, who notes some of the residents impacted by the water shut off are housebound.
Comments
Glad they shut it down. Sounds like a dangerous gong show. You can’t just hire Joe Blow nobody to fix these problems. That typically ends up being more bother than it’s worth.
Of course it cannot be fixed on a weekend Mr. Lahey is on a drunkathon and Randy is busy cooking cheesburgers.
General rule of excavations twice as wide as deep or cribbing is req’d.
lol – I looked at the picture of the lady in the hole, looked up the regs on hole depth and when I get around to coming back on here this story is posted…
lonesome sparrow….lol… that was great….
“I can fix it. My Dad is a TV repairman, he’s got an awesome set of tool’s…”
( Spiccoli from Fast Times…)
I wonder what would have been said if someone got hurt or killed trying to fix the problem?
Well GimmeABreakFFS people are killed because holes aren’t shored properly. Sandy did the right thing. If a contractor doesn’t know how to or won’t shore the hole they should be shut down. Everyone should go home after work not to the cemetary. They should be put in jail risking someones life instead of renting shoring. Plywood and 4×4’s would have solved the problem. Don’t blame Sandy. Blame the contractor that risked a life to save a few bucks. I think the city can bid on a job on private property. It might or might not cost more but it would be done safely and right.
People have died in shallower trenches than that, I’m glad they shut it down.
metalman.
If only The Three Stooges attended the sight they could have covered the hole with a large rug.
The excavation is not the only thing which is unsafe.
images/Park%20006.jpg
Look at the cribbing exposed underneath the mobile home. It likely holds up one of the floor beams. If the excavation were to fail, it likely would as well.
To the person who chooses to blame one individual for a lack of water needs to think twice. This isnt the first water problem and pretty sure it wont be the last. The only one to blame is the owner of the park when he didnt fix it properly the first time. Also maybe if he had someone out to fix it properly friday maybe everyone would have had water 2 days ago!!!!!!! To the person who is picking on this Sandy person, you are blaming the wrong person. GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT BEFORE YOU START THROWING ACCUSATIONS. There was supposedly more than one complaint called in and thats how a rumor starts.
Even if you are not a safety expert but feel something isn’t safe you are probably right. Report it. Never walk past an unsafe work site.
The blame of Sandy (who should be commended and thanked for caring about the safety of everyone and having the courage to do something about it IF in fact she did) is being encouraged by park management. In a notice handed out by Odette Young, park manager, and woman in the hole, she writes the following,
“We were ready to finish up the job but unfortunately some one contacted WCB and we were forced to stop work when they deemed the area unsafe”.
Not, unfortunately the work site was not safe. Not unfortunately we did not call in ticketed and qualified tradespersons to do the repairs.
No responsibility whatsoever.
She also “suggests” the residents affected go stay “with friends or family”.
Not very good property management. Perhaps the park should hire someone with the ability to run the park rather than letting a glorified book keeper be in charge of the care of our drinking water and health.
Thanks for looking out for others safety Sandy, well done!!!
ditto to what dragon said ^^^
and to those having trouble getting through a couple of days without water, you really should examine your emergency preparedness. This is an inconvenience I agree, but thats really all it should be. Imagine if we had a real catastrophe…
And my money is on “Gimmeabreakffs” being park staff…. possibly the ever professional Odette Young?
Hey, I am just glad Worksafe BC is doing their job, which they seemed to have botched in the sawmill and mushroom farm industries!
Sure would like to see their report on the Lake Babine sawmill explosion, of which 90 pages have been ordered destroyed, by 3 MLA’s, to keep it from going public, until after some court case.
Sandy should be rewarded. Odette Young should be fires.
fired
I wouldn’t just point fingers at the young general manager with no experience and what about the new maintenance guy that doesn’t show up till noon pretty much. I wish the old ones were still in the park at least they cared about the park. I praise Sandy for doing what was right in the first place. There are children in the park and what kid does not like playing in the mud!
The being prepared isn’t an issue. No one said they weren’t prepared. The issue is people pay for these services and are not going to be compensated for losses incured or additional finances that were spent. After contacting the park owner they made it clear there was going to be no accommodations made and no compensation. There is a family with handicapped children who need to be fed formula which is made with water. Does the park care? No!
I live in this park the same contractors ripped up my yard and in the process damaged not only my yard (which I was told would be put back the way it was before)
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