the findings of events are communicated and discussed to
find and share solutions to ensure everyone goes home safe.
We also have an extensive network within Keller that assists us
with cascading lessons learned down to our workforce.”
It’s critical to know exactly why any accidents occurred.
“The method that we try to use is that you ask ‘why’ five
times,” said Brockmann. “Why was there an accident? Why
did the crane tip over? Why wasn’t the work pad up to snuff?
Why wasn’t it properly prepared? Why wasn’t the standard
enforced? It’s just trying to get underneath the surface to the
root of the problem. A root-cause analysis is such a common
term, but it really is about trying to get down and eliminate
the actual causes of the problem.”
Conducting an analysis
Learning from an incident involves losing time from the job,
but offers incalculable payback.
“Almost invariably, with anything of any consequence
you shut the site down to bring everybody together and
make sure there’s no reoccurrence. Then an investigation
is really a big part of it. You need to go and have a look at
what caused the accident with somebody impartial to the
incident; it allows you to revise the protocols for the site,”
said Langton. “When you talk to your clients, you have to
be upfront and deal with the problem that occurred. With
both employees and clients, you have to reassure them that
you’re going to be putting the systems in place that are
going to prevent another accident occurring.”
Accidents happen
La Rose recalls an odd situation in which a person walked
into an open hole and wasn’t found until almost an hour later.
“You never leave an open hole,” he said. “All my supervisors
are trained in accident investigation; they will call me, and
we will go down to the site. Very often, the supervisor is quite
capable of running the situation without my involvement.”
“One that stands out for me is a pile driver that tipped
over. There was high potential for very serious implications,”
said Bell. “As it turned out, the only loss was the unit itself.
The learning from that was about knowing your equipment.
In this case, it was a rented piece of equipment, not completely
familiar to the company. The other thing is there is no
requirement for a journeyman certification for a designated
pile driving unit operator in Alberta.”
Safety standards
As Bell points out, unlike some other parts of the construction
sector, the piling industry does not have its own
complete set of national standards. This is beginning to
change. Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in Canada
to add explicit training requirements for drill rig operators
into its health and safety legislation. As of July 1 of this year,
the new requirements under the Occupational Health and
Safety Act will be in effect for all workers operating rotary
foundation drill rigs.
Meanwhile, as detailed in Quarter 4 2015 of Piling Canada,
the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), the
International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSCIAFD)
and the Western Canadian chapter of the ADSC are
collaborating on the development of a drill rig operators
training program that will be available online. Eventually,
says Kevin Sharp, general manager of Sharp’s Construction
Services (2006) Ltd. and president of the Western Canadian
chapter of ADSC, candidates will be able to use this training
to prepare for Ontario’s Ministry qualification.
Also underway is a joint venture between ADSC’s Western
and Eastern Canadian chapters to introduce a CSA standard
COVER FEATURE
“When you talk to your clients, you
have to be upfront and deal with the
problem that occurred. With both
employees and clients, you have to
reassure them that you’re going to
be putting the systems in place that
are going to prevent another accident
occurring.”
– Owen Langton, Henry Foundation Drilling Inc.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HENRY FOUNDATION DRILLING INC.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
16 Q2 2016 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
