Construction worker airlifted to Kingston hospital after building site collapse
Man trapped for hours amid rescue efforts by emergency crews
A construction worker was airlifted to a Kingston hospital from a Brockville, Ont. construction site Wednesday afternoon after being trapped for hours and suffering serious injuries, according to Brockville Police.
Multiple emergency crews spent "several hours" working together to try to extricate the man, who had become trapped in a multi-level building in development, police explained in a press release.
The injured man was finally rescued and airlifted to the Kingston Health Sciences Centre by an Ornge air ambulance, said Jeff Carss, chief of the Leeds Grenville Paramedic Service.
He was in critical condition after sustaining life-threatening injuries but was "conscious and alert" when removed from the structure, Carss said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said in a statement that the employer, DBM Contracting (Ottawa Inc.), was issued two orders under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and that its investigation is ongoing.
An early investigation has revealed that a portion of a concrete staircase had given way and fallen, pinning the construction worker in the stairwell, according to Brockville Police.
Rescue crews including the Leeds Grenville Paramedic Service, Brockville Fire Department, Ornge Ontario Air Paramedics and Ottawa Fire Services, were called to the site – a new building development at 1481 Windsor Drive – around 12:30 p.m.
With files from Nkele Martin, Nathan Fung and Kate Adach