The Nova Scotia Labour Department was on the scene of an industrial accident Thursday, (Dec. 29) after an excavator being driven by an employee of MacLean Construction overturned in a ditch.
The excavator was working on construction of a house.
The call came in to the Cape Breton Regional Police Service at about 11:45 a.m from a resident in the area who noticed the excavator overturned in a ditch on Blackett Street, but didn’t see anyone around it.
Const. Greg Livingstone responded to the scene, along with members of the Glace Bay Volunteer Fire Department. Members of the Cape Breton regional fire service hazmat team were called after fluids were discovered leaking from the machine.
Rod Gillis, a compliance officer for the Department of Labour, described the situation as a minor mishap.
“We are still looking into it,” he said.
“We have attended the scene, taken photos, spoken to the operator and now will be doing up a report.”
Gillis said the operator — the sole employee at the site at the time — overturned while digging a foundation for a building.
“The ground was very soft from all that rain we had. The machine was on the edge of the excavation and it just slumped off and the machine slowly rolled over there.”
“It is just one of those things where you got loose soil, a recently-dug ground and all the rain made it all the more precarious,” he added.
Gillis said the work area was never closed down.
“Everything closed itself down when the machine fell in the hole.”
He said the company brought a second machine in to get the excavator out.
The employee — who did not want to be identified — said he only suffered a minor cut on the side of his face.
“I got out (of the excavator) through a broken window,” he said.
Source: Cape Breton Post