Call for safety renewed 31 years after tragedy

Thirty-one years may seem like a long time to most people, but to Michael Davis it was like yesterday.

"I still miss my dad terribly," an emotional Davis told a sombre crowd gathered at a downtown ceremony Fri-day commemorating four construction workers - including Davis's father - killed on the job on Jan. 7, 1981.

On this day, 31 years ago, Donald Davis fell to his death from the top of the Bentall Four tower at Melville and Thurlow streets after a wood and metal form he was standing on broke away from the building. He was 34.

Co-workers Gunther Couvreux, 49, Yrjo Mitrunen, 46, and Brian Steven-son, 21, also lost their lives in the accident, one of the worst in the city's history of construction.

Every year since, the victims' family members - joined by politicians, labour and industry leaders, and workers - gather close to the accident site to lay flowers in memory of their loved ones and renew a public call for improved safety in what remains a very dangerous job.

The B.C. construction industry has averaged a fatality rate of about 26 workers per year over the past 31 years, for a grim total of more than 800 construction work-related deaths.

"It's got to stop," said Coun. Kerry Jang, who attended Friday's event on behalf of the City of Vancouver.

"My dad was a construction worker ... and I've often thought, 'What would my life have been like if my dad had lost his life?' It brings tears to my eyes and chokes me up," he said.

Indeed, many attending the noon ceremony struggled to contain their emotions as Davis, flanked by his 18-year-old son, Jake, took the micro-phone to talk about the agonizing loss of his father at the age of 13.

"I didn't realize that when I said goodbye to him in the morning that that would be the last time I talked to him," said Davis, his voice choking with grief.

"I never got the chance to do those trips that we talked about ... I wasn't able to ask his advice about life decisions growing up, or be able to share in things I've done over the years, introduce him to my wife, have him hold my sons. He deserved that, too," he said.

Al Johnson, WorkSafeBC's construction services manager, said construction injury and fatality rates have improved over the years as safety awareness, education and enforcement have evolved.

According to WorkSafeBC, the industry injury rate has fallen steadily from 1991 to 2009. At the same time, the province has beefed up its on-site inspection program, with a dedicated team of inspectors policing construction sites throughout the Metro region.

But after 16 deaths due to traumatic injury resulting from the job in 2010, all those present at the ceremony agreed there was still room for improvement.

Tom Sigurdson, head of the BC Building Trades Council, said more work site inspections are needed, as well as a stronger will to prosecute contractors who knowingly expose their workers to dangerous conditions.

Source: Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun