Crane tips over at construction site of consolidated courthouse

A crane has collapsed Monday morning at the still-under-construction consolidated courthouse on Thunder Bay’s south side.

Fire Chief John Hay said no one was hurt in the incident, in which the now-twisted crane appears to have tipped over, its boom landing on the lower section of the Miles Street building, set to open in 2014. Police have closed off a portion of Brodie Street to Victoriaville Mall, citing public safety.

The incident occurred at about 9 a.m.

“Right now we are just clearing the courthouse, clearing the area and we’re going to get together with a team of engineers and people from the courthouse and they’ll develop a plan on how they’re going to get the crane off,” Hay said.

“There was nobody hurt, there was nobody injured and certainly nobody killed in the building. So we’re quite comfortable in that.”
Hay said its fortunate no one was injured.

“Building practices and construction practices the way they are, we’ve never had an incident here that’s been anything but minor. There was nobody underneath the crane. There was nobody under the piece that was being moved and I think it’s fortunate that nobody was hurt.”

Hay stressed every precaution will be taken before any work begins. The investigation is in the hands of the Ontario Ministry of Labour, whose inspectors would not comment on scene.

“We’ve had a new building that’s taken a pretty big body check, so we’re going to make sure that the building is good before we allow people to get too close to it, except the people who are actually going to work on it. So we’re minimizing the number of people who are going to be around the building,” Hay said.

“We’re going to have engineers check the building before, during and after the crane comes off.”

Hay said Brodie Street may be closed for hours, if not a full day while officials ensure the scene is safe and the crane is removed.
“There is probably a little impact on the businesses on the street. Unfortunately that’s going to continue for the next little while. The Ministry of Labour and Byrd Construction will be developing a plan to get the crane off the roof,” Hay said.

It would be a guess to say what caused the collapse, Hay added.

“The Ministry of Labour, because they’re doing their investigation, I wouldn’t want to comment anyway. I can probably tell you they won’t be commenting for a while, being a provincial agency right now.”