Accident at 18 Mile Bridge site

Bruce County Road 86 between Amberley and Lucknow in Huron-Kinloss Township was the scene of a construction accident on Saturday, Oct 10, where concrete forms gave way while pouring the deck of the bridge, injuring workers and causing a major mess in the river.

South Bruce OPP say the incident happened between noon and 1:00 p.m.

Five workers were said to have been injured, one seriously. He was taken to London Health Sciences Centre, with the remainder going to hospitals with various non-life threatening injuries in Goderich, Wingham and Kincardine.

About 15 workers were on site when what appears to have been roughly 25-50-feet of forms and supports collapsed, sending tons of wet concrete and other rubble, into the 18 Mile River.

Reports say that when emergency workers arrived on the scene, two or three of injured workers were laying in the wet cement and one on the (cement) leveler itself.

A number of the lesser injuries included cuts, bruises and sprained ankles .

The Ministry of Labour is investigating.

Under construction since July and scheduled to be completed by Sept, the bridge has seen its share of setbacks and delays.

At an Oct 1 meeting of Huron-Kinloss council, contracting company Allen-Hastings Limited of Chesley Ontario requested an extension of the road closure until October 31, 2007. Problems in the demolition phase of the old structure were said to have been partly to blame.

After missing that deadline, it was announced at the Nov 5 meeting of council that there were more delays. Hugh Nichol, the township’s public works superintendent, told council that Dec 1 was the earliest the work would be done. That date however was somewhat unlikely, as Nichol said once the deck is poured; there would be a 21-day wait before the bridge could be used for traffic. (SEE THAT STORY BY CLICKING HERE)

At about noon on Sunday, Nov 11, an official from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) was giving the scene an initial once over, checking for any environmental concerns.

He said the rubble “seemed to be spanning the river,” meaning that water was still flowing under tons of concrete and steel.

An Ontario Labour Ministry spokesman told media on Sunday that experts were on the scene interviewing the contractor, the engineers and examining bridge drawings, checking on whether proper safety precautions were taken during the construction.

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