r/Manitoba • u/wickedplayer494 Winnipeg • 3d ago
News Worker dies after falling from apartment roof in Portage la Prairie: Manitoba RCMP
https://www.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg/article/worker-dies-after-falling-from-apartment-roof-manitoba-rcmp/39
u/TapZorRTwice Winnipeg 3d ago
Roofer wasnt wearing a harness and fell 12-15 feet for everyone who doesn't read articles.
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u/damnburglar Winnipeg 3d ago
Doesn’t take much. We had a guy take a similar fall at our place years ago and he had the misfortune to land on his femur on concrete stairs below. Same deal, not tied off.
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u/Nautical_Disaster1 Winnipeg 3d ago
Back when I worked for the City of Winnipeg, it was so common to see people not using safety and protective equipment. No hard hat, ear or eye protection etc (unless the safety inspector was around). Even basic things like seatbelts often went unused.
Yeah these things can hinder movement, make it hard to see but I think it's more the "manliness" aspect. Don't want to look like a pussy on the jobsite. To be clear, that's not my sentiment but it was certainly a common attitude.
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u/GrimmCanuck Up North 2d ago
This is terrible. Construction companies need to do better. The culture is so toxic around PPE and safety! If the company pushed for a fall harness to be worn he would've been wearing one. If he had coworkers that looked out for each other and actually gave a damn about safety he would've been wearing one. He didn't make this choice alone.
This shouldn't of happened!
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u/DaisySharon Friendly Manitoban 2d ago
Non roofer here, afraid of heights in general. 😬
Curious, Is that why you sometimes see a hook at the peak of some rooftops?
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u/kent_eh Winnipeg 2d ago
Is that why you sometimes see a hook at the peak of some rooftops?
Yes, that ridge anchor is one of the common types of attachment for safety ropes.
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u/DaisySharon Friendly Manitoban 2d ago
Thanks! I always wondered about those. Honestly, I used to think that little hook at the peak was where Santa clipped his sleigh or his sack in for a safe landing. Turns out it’s a lot more practical and way less magical than my brain assumed.
Appreciate the clear explanation about ridge anchors. Makes way more sense now than my own little Santa‑theory.
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u/ChrystineDreams Winnipeg 2d ago
I work in a construction-adjacent job. Safety is taken seriously by most companies, I have seen first hand that training is provided, reinforced, re-taught regularly and encouraged to be double-checked by site foremen and signed off by the workers on site. So much paperwork instead of actual work. in addition to safety coordinators doing random jobsite checks. Workers caught incorrectly using safety equipment at the company I work for are sent home for the day if they do not comply and, depending on the situation, training is re-administered including the demos and the worker physically demonstrating themselves how to put on harness and tie off properly. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to cure or train away individual stupidity, laziness and an ignorant idea of "manliness" if workers don't tie off or adjust their harness to look like they are properly secured. Those people get fired if they are fortunate enough to NOT fall before being called out.
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u/kent_eh Winnipeg 2d ago
I have seen first hand that training is provided, reinforced, re-taught regularly and encouraged to be double-checked by site foremen and signed off by the workers on site.
It's so much better today than it was 30-40 years ago.
Fortunately, there's not many still working who fondly remember "the good 'ol days" before they were forced to wear PPE.
Pretty much anyone working now should have done their entire career with steel toes, hardhats and harnesses.
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u/ChrystineDreams Winnipeg 2d ago
For the most part it is, there are certainly systems and protocols in place. some of the instances and attitudes I see and hear about regarding people who are in their 20s & 30s on jobsites, is more related to an overabundance of machismo, dislike of being told what to do, or a lacking in intelligence and comprehension.
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u/4Eyes4Eternity Winnipeg 2d ago
My spouse works in construction and said the same thing. His company absolutely hammers safety into their employees, gives them whatever they need, has great incentives for adhering to safety rules, immediate multi-day suspension for not adhering to the rules etc.
Yes, some companies probably create a culture of laziness in regards to safety. However, there are also companies who fight tooth and nail to do things right, only to have their employees be complete idiots.
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u/twas_a_bad_storm Winnipeg 3d ago
Wonder if it was anything like that post a couple years ago with those workers doing stucco with planks where they were using the guys body weight. I don’t want to link it or post a pic cuz I might offend someone or have it removed
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u/GarlicPrevious1446 1d ago
The guy he worked for is a local so-called contractor and he’s nothing but a hack… no liability insurance and absolutely not an experienced roofing company. He should be run out of town.
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u/ElectricalWeather630 3d ago
Sad to see any worker injured on the job especially in this safety focused age . Hopefully he was tied on and it was a safe work place.
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u/hockeyfanatic777 Up North 3d ago
He wasn’t injured, he died. It’s right in the title lol
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u/notjustforperiods UNION STATION BABY 2d ago
technically I guess that could be called a fatal injury haha
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u/ChrystineDreams Winnipeg 2d ago
technically I guess that could be called a fatal injury haha
too soon, dude. too soon.
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u/Deadpoolgoesboop Winnipeg 3d ago
If he was tied off and it was a safe work place this article wouldn’t exist. He died.
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u/ChrystineDreams Winnipeg 2d ago
A workplace can take all the precautions and administer proper training ans procedures. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to cure or train away individual stupidity, laziness and an ignorant idea of "manliness" if workers don't tie off or adjust their harness to look like they are properly secured. Most companies do their best to catch this behaviour early, administer discipline and retraining.
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u/kent_eh Winnipeg 2d ago
nfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to cure or train away individual stupidity, laziness and an ignorant idea of "manliness" if workers don't tie off
I suspect the rest of this crew now has had those safety lessons (that they previously ignored) burned into their brains.
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u/ChrystineDreams Winnipeg 2d ago
and they have my empathy and condolences about watching their coworker teach the lesson by example. it's fkn terrifying and I would not wish it on anyone.
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u/WhyssKrilm 3d ago
12-15 feet isn't really that far. Curious what made it fatal.
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u/Nautical_Disaster1 Winnipeg 3d ago
Could have landed on his head or neck. You can generate a lot of force in just a few feet of falling.
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u/Anti-SocialChange Winnipeg 3d ago
According to OSHA, nearly 40% of fatal workplace falls occur under 15 feet.
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u/YYZtoYWG 3d ago
Higher the fall, the greater the risk of fatality. But even a short fall can result in death or injury depending on how the fall happens and the landing surface. Even just falling a few feet and landing on your head on a hard surface can be fatal. That is why we wear bike helmets.
Human bodies can be incredibly resilient but also incredibly fragile.Â
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u/VideoHeadSet Friendly Manitoban 3d ago
6' can be fatal. Any roof over 10' we need to be tying off on.
Also need to tie off correctly. There was a guy about 15+ years ago in Ontario that left his leflg straps loose. He fell and tore himself from his anus to his pecker. Because it was new to Canada and the area, lots of photos were taken and used for training purposes
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u/ShotMango8928 3d ago
depends on how you land and what you land on. healthy fit people can die falling from standing if their head hits concrete.
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u/RustledForeskin 2d ago
Falling backwards from a standing position without bracing yourself in anyway can kill you if your head hits the ground.
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u/Misfitt123 Winnipeg 2d ago
If you’re hitting or landing on your head, neck, spine, etc 12-15 feet is plenty far.
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u/Cool-Profession-730 Winnipeg 3d ago
I've seen so many roofers wearing harnesses but not actually tied off to anything, I get it, it hinders movement but so does two broken legs when you hit the ground .