Calgary Construction Hazards October 6 2009 Ovation Tower

[nfldkillboy]

Worst video camera work ever.

[skatetime47]

i would START chucking shit at it

[TheLizardLicks]

this is what happens when you import 500,000 ching chong wing wang.

[Rm4rs]

safety on the site is everyones responsibility that works there not just the people in charge and stop pointing self righteous fingers how many times have some of you sped through deerfoot while talking on the cell or sped through a construction site? or drove home drunk from a bar? cmon people stop being hypocrites

[sackville10]

i gave up carpentry when i moved out here from n.s because everytime i put up a fuss about safty regs i got fired and the fucking albertan code is a joke .

[Z3R0RDi3]

unreal.. iv just reently been assigned to this site about a week ago and havent seen the safty guy once, havent had an orientation, and frequently see guys without their hardhats ppe, the contractor is a joke therefore safety is a joke..if you go on an elisdon, stuart olson, and especially CENTRON site this would never have been a problem

[garycalgary]

it's obvious someone don't give 2 shits about safety

until something happens or they get their asses sued or someone gets killed

[7bluebell14]

that is completely and utterly unacceptable.

[noimchucknorris]

i put the windows in on this site. ulrich is the problem here, he is the superintendant and he could care less about the safety of the employees or the people walking innocently below. in fact i had been in an unsafe situation due to a lack of structual engineering and he had the nerve to make a joke to a forman about how long it would take me to fall off the building. i heard about this from the safety insepector later, now there's a guy you really want to work for!?!?!

[Treped]

Well it seems pretty clear who jer1114 works for and perhaps forman of that site or possibly safety inspector?

So tell it to the family of the poor little girl that was killed and explain to them that she should have been more carefull, worn the propper safety gear while walking past the building and clearly all her fault for getting killed then shrug your shoulders and say accidents happen, you know shit happens get over it.

And this attitude is why the problem will continue to happen

[luckyvet]

A 4x8 coming out of the sky would slice anyone in half.

[noimchucknorris]

lol, no it wouldnt. stupid.

[Treped]

I would walk down the street every few days and collect all the beer bottles the workers left piled up by the dumpsters. I made anywhere from $100 - $200 a month in empties.

They had no supervision, no management and didn't have to worry about the city inspectors since they never got out of the car. Most of them lived in their campers or a hotel and once they were finished they simply moved back to the province they came from with a bank account full of money. Evergreen was built by gypsies.

[Treped]

I agree with charlieknockout about the quality of work being done in Calgary. We had a new Jaymen home built 4 years ago just prior to the building boom and was the first house on the street. We did fine as I kept check during the building process but I walked through the others as they were being built during the boom and was horrified at the workmanship. Less quality than a bunch of 8 year old kids building a tree fort from scrap wood would do. I would never buy a new home in Calgary now!

[IH8WRONGPPL]

Cheap immigrant labour imo.

[fitzy27]

the company is intergulf cidex, that day ppl were complaining about the decks, some of the exterior caulkers, and intergulf said they were taking it down the next morning, but it didn't happen, every floor the ply wood was just hanging by and electrical power chord

[charlieknockout]

I'm a former super/foreman for a construction company in calgary. Sloppy work was everywhere there cutting corners and pinching pennies, i can recall hundreds of dangerous situations i, as well as the public was in, as i went through the ranks of the company, i have scars to prove it. I'm talking elementary schools, hospitals, new condos.. i would never invest in anything for this reason in calgary. other than that, i experienced more racism there than i had ever experienced in my life as well..

[natswing]

fuckn idiots never learn.

[MrGreenGuy79]

Sorry about all the scattered messages here but in order to say what I wanted to say I had to because of youtube only allowing you to write 500 characters in the box at a time. If you want to read what I posted then please start from the bottom and work your way up. THANKS

[MrGreenGuy79]

It's not right that a little girl had to pay with her life and that a family is without their little girl. Workers are responsible for their own safety and safety of others, yes, but we have no protection against losing our jobs for complaining and trying to make things safe

[12stringsforme]

What company was it.

What address.

What is this foreman's name.

Exactly what city inspector, at what phone number, can I call to complain.

If the media has picked up this video, have they published the answers to my questions above.

[MrGreenGuy79]

That role is the responsibility of the companys and workers who should all be CSTS trained, have fall protection amongst many other qualifications. If the worker has no training, then the worker should not be on site. Also, we fear losing our jobs because of pressures from foremans to be on time. If we don't listen, we lose our jobs.

[MrGreenGuy79]

So my point is this... YES, the inspector should get out of their vehicle and do their job but the environment on a job site changes so often that it would be impossible to keep eyes on all jobs at all times. .

[MrGreenGuy79]

This foreman is still working in calgary for the same company and if my memory serves me correctly, he is now apart of the safety team for this company on another downtown site.

[MrGreenGuy79]

He chased me down the building as I went to the site safety office to complain. Needless to say, the company wanted to transfer me to another site and the foreman just carried out about his way.

Chinese new year came about (few weeks later) and there were 1000's of people in the street for a parade when all of a sudden several sheets of plywood flew off that same building I worked on nearly hitting many in the streets.

[MrGreenGuy79]

20 minutes later, my foreman called me into his little hut office and told me I complain too much, I am not one of his nest workers, he said that I was an ahole and that I am fired. Hint: anyone who has been around construction in calgary may know the certin foreman out there who calls everyone AHOLE... Not a very nice man, he is.

[MrGreenGuy79]

he asked if any of us had concerns. I raised my hand and let me tell you it was a big mistake for me at the time. In a non complaining tone I said that the work we did the night before was unsafe, that we needed lights and people should have been tied off. I also said sheet of plywood was falling on me.

[MrGreenGuy79]

The only reason I went to work for this company is because I was an expecting father who wanted to have benefits for my child and this company ( UNION COMPANY) offered them. Fortunatly at work that night nobody got hurt. So the next morning in our daily toolbox meeting, after our foreman gave us our tasks,

[MrGreenGuy79]

We were so rushed that we had no lights to work with and did so in the dark. I remember sheets of plywood falling on top of us and all us worker tripping over each other, not to mention that some workers weren't tied off with fall protection while working near the edge of the building. We were on the 19th floor at the time.

[MrGreenGuy79]

I am a construction worker who moved to Calgary in 2005 for work. I can say that I never seen so many unsafe practices at work until I came here but why are we only taking notice now? Just before christmas of 2006, I was working for a large company on a downtown highrise. One night we were asked to stay late until we removed a section of flyer forms with the crane up onto the next level.

[rukrazy2]

how many more people have to get killed or injured before workers or companys care?

[Treped]

The people constructing these buildings don't give a rip about safety or quality just build them as fast and cheap as possible. It's up to the city inspectors to make sure these sites are safe and up to code and there lies the problem. They just simply don't do the job they are being paid to do and they don't have to because they don't have to take responsibility for anything. It's pathetic when the people we rely on to insure the safety of these construction sites don't do their jobs.

[artyomgrand]

You think City of Calgary gives a rip? Let's ask the City Council, do they give a rip? It's a legalized mafia out there! Why didn't the City publicly disclose its investigation of all construction sites in downtown? Every party is interested in each other! Fcuk average John Doe. Who cares about him?

If Daniel Tschetter gets 5 (!!!) years of jail time in a City of Calgary for killing 5 people while driving drunk... then I guess punishment for these construction incidents will be ...NONE.

[taarraaa]

ridiculous, i live right by there as well, tons of kids always outside.

i was driving home yesterday and stuff was flying off of peoples apartments on bowtrail nearly missing my car.

[Treped]

They have no choice since it is all over the news and there's no hiding it now.

I hope the inspector actually get out of his car to do the inspection this time around.

[crgd23]

You've made the news! Check out the article "City issues stop work order at southwest highrise" at the CHQR website

[Treped]

This is no surprise at all and will continue to happen. Our city inspectors are nothing more than people getting paid to make excuses for not doing their job. We had a garage built and not a single city inspector got out of his car to actually inspect the work. The gas line that was run was questionable at best and when I walked over to the inspectors car and asked if he needed to go inside and inspect the gas line they ran he replied "I'm sure it is ok", signed the paperwork and drove away.