Date of incident: February 2021
Notice of incident number: 2021156680003
Employers: Delivery truck company; food product manufacturer

Incident summary
A worker delivering food products in a residential area parked his delivery van on a street. As the worker was making deliveries on foot in the neighbourhood, the van unexpectedly rolled down the road and struck a double-wide carport. The worker ran under the carport toward the delivery van and suddenly the carport collapsed onto him. He was fatally injured.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker crushed when carport collapsed. The worker was delivering food products on foot in a residential area when his delivery van, which had been parked on a hill, rolled and struck a post of the carport. The worker ran under the carport to the van and the carport collapsed onto him.

Contributing factors

• Compromised emergency brake. The van was inspected after the incident and was found to have a compromised emergency brake. The worker applied the emergency brake when he parked the vehicle to make deliveries on foot, but in its state of maintenance, the brake was not capable of keeping the vehicle from rolling forward. The van had passed an annual commercial vehicle inspection by an authorized inspector at a designated facility under a Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement program about one month before the incident. Had the problem with the emergency brake been identified and addressed, it is highly unlikely that the van would have rolled downhill.
• Lack of safe work procedure for parking on hill. The van was parked with its emergency brake engaged and not in gear. The B.C. Motor Vehicle Act requires motorists to put standard-transmission vehicles in reverse when parked on a hill. The van had a standard transmission and was left in neutral. The company that employed the worker did not have a safe work procedure for parking on a hill, and the worker parked the van unsafely.

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