Date of incident: June 2024
Notice of incident number: 2024190590009
Employer: Wood products manufacturer

Incident summary
Two workers in a warehouse were attempting to take a large panel of glass from a stack of such panels stored in a vertical crate. Each panel of glass weighed 20 kg (45 lb.) and there were 21 panels in the crate. One worker, a labourer, was on the left side of the crate and the other, a supervisor, was on the right. As they began to remove the frontmost panel, the entire stack of glass started to tip forward toward them. The labourer moved to the middle of the crate to try to stabilize the stack, but the whole stack fell forward, knocking him to the floor and landing on him. The labourer sustained serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Heavy glass panels became unstable and fell on labourer. The stack of glass kept in the vertical crate was not stable nor properly secured by any means or mechanism and was deemed unsafe by WorkSafeBC officers. The 21 panels of glass weighed an estimated 420 kg (926 lb.) and were too heavy a load for the labourer to keep from falling on him.

Contributing factors

• No hazard identification or risk assessment. The employer had no documented hazard identification or risk assessment for the work being done. The employer did not assess the risks pertaining to this storage method in terms of removing panels from the crate.
• No young and new worker training. The labourer was a young and new worker and had not been trained on the work being performed or given any new worker orientation when hired by the employer. There was no documentation of any training or orientation provided to the labourer.
• Lack of safe work procedures. The employer did not have any safe work procedures for the safe use, handling, and storage of heavy glass panels.
• Inadequate supervision. The employer failed to ensure the labourer received a young and new worker orientation and was provided with specific training pertinent to the assigned work task. The firm also failed to ensure the safe storage of heavy glass panels and to conduct proper hazard identification and risk assessment for the task of removing the heavy glass panels from the crate.
• Failure to implement health and safety program. The employer failed to initiate and maintain a less formal program based on regular monthly meetings with workers for discussion of health and safety matters. Such meetings might have provided a venue for discussion of the hazard of the storage method for the glass panels, an assessment of the related risks, and possible control measures.

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