A 25-year-old Langford man, painting at a Saanich business, died when he apparently fell about six metres onto pavement, Vancouver Island regional coroner Matt Brown said.
“He was on the awning and likely went over the edge,” but what led to the fall may never be uncovered because there were no witnesses, Brown said.
The B.C. Coroners Service did not release the man’s name pending notification of his family.
WorkSafe B.C. said the fall occurred about 2:20 p.m. on Thursday.
Brown said the man was found outside on the ground by someone working in another business in the same building. He was deceased at the scene.
The man was a full-time qualified painter working for Coastal Painting Ltd., Brown said. He was working at All Seasons Auto-Racks, 3325 Oak Street, near Uptown shopping centre and had been working on the project for most of the week.
Police have ruled out foul play.
“The working theory is that he may have been standing near the edge of the awning when he lost his footing or grip and fell to the ground and died as a result of his injuries,” Brown said.
WorkSafe B.C.’s Scott McCloy said the man fell onto blacktop. “It’s an unspeakable tragedy,” he said. “Everybody wants to go to work and do a good job, and you don’t expect to get hurt. The tragedy, to me, is that we leave behind people who love us. It’s just horrific.”
Falls from elevation are a particular concern for WorkSafe B.C., he said. “It’s part of our high-risk strategy, because we know that with a fall from an elevation, you don’t have to fall very far to incur a serious injury.”
Brown said there do not appear to be any environmental factors such as sun in the man’s eye or wet slippery surfaces.
The man appeared to be wearing a safety harness, “but whether it was connected or not, we don’t know,” Brown said. That will be part of the investigation by B.C. Coroners Service and WorkSafe B.C., he said.
McCloy said Saanich police were in charge of the scene until about 6 p.m. Thursday, when WorkSafe B.C. took over. “WorkSafe B.C. is conducting a regulatory investigation to determine what happened, why it happened, how it happened and how it can be prevented again in the future,” he said.
Part of the investigation will involve WorkSafe staff who look strictly at prevention issues, he said. “They will be looking at what the procedures are for this worksite. Is there a fall-protection plan in place?”
The investigation could take weeks or months, McCloy said.
