No workers injured in the accident at LRT eastern entrance
On the morning of April 26 emergency responders were on the scene near the University of Ottawa, as the cab of a construction crane fell sideways near the eastern entrance of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) at Waller Street and Laurier Avenue.
According to Rideau Transit Group technical director Peter Lauch, the incident occurred when the crane was lifting a cement mixer into the tunnel. The worker in the cab of the crane jumped out prior to the fall, as per his training, and was not injured. No other injuries were reported on the scene.
In an interview with the CBC, Lauch said that the stabilizers designed to prevent the crane from tipping were not deployed, leading to an imbalance that caused the heavy machine to fall.
Workers vey concerned for their safety at crane flip over. I can hear own worker saying they are not going back into LRT tunnel #ottnews pic.twitter.com/qGcy7zXW0B
— Ashley Burke (@AshleyBurkeCBC) April 26, 2017
This latest incident marks the fifth LRT-related accident near the U of O. The previous incident in November 2016 also occurred near Waller Street and Laurier Avenue, and involved three workers being trapped underground due to a concrete collapse.
Furthermore, in 2014 a similar section of Waller Street collapsed near Laurier Station and the Arts building, while in June 2016 a sinkhole emerged on Rideau Street which caused a gas leak and power outage in the area. Four days before that incident, however, a fire had also erupted in that same section of the LRT construction site.
