Alberta oilsands employer worried about heavy haul driver who ran over pickup

 

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. -- An oilsands operator is worried about the driver of a heavy hauler which ran over a pickup truck on a work site in northern Alberta.

The 26-year-old pickup driver died in hospital shortly after the accident Saturday night.

RCMP have identified the victim as Christopher Allen Vanmoorsel of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

Chris Zorica, Albian Sands spokesman, said everyone is sensitive to the grieving family's feelings, but there are also concerns for the well-being of the industrial vehicle's driver.

"They can't get past it, and they'll never go back into a truck again," he said.

Investigators from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety are investigating what happened at the Albian Sands Muskeg River mine. The RCMP will also be involved.

"It's a sad day," Zorica said Monday. "We're hurting, and we know his family is deeply hurting as well."

Zorica noted that Albian's motto is ``Everyone Home Safely, Always."

"Unfortunately, we failed at that."

The oilsands community has already started pulling together, with offers of support coming from other companies and community members, Zorica added.

"Hopefully, this is the time when we separate ourselves out as a community that supports each other."

A spokesman for Occupational Health and Safety said the pickup driver was making his way from the mine towards the administration building at the end of his shift when he was run over and crushed by the 350-tonne heavy hauler.

Barrie Harrison said his department issued a stop-work order soon after the accident, but it was lifted sometime before 8 p.m. Sunday.

It is the first fatality in the mine's six-year history.

"The prime contractor (Albian Sands) has been ordered to come up with a temporary arrangement to improve traffic flow, pending a full review," said Harrison.

Zorica said the company is also reviewing what it's doing in an effort to maintain safety at the site.

Workers upset by the accident were allowed to leave the site. Grief counsellors have been available both on- and off-site.

The worker, who had ties to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., was employed by Bucyrus Canada Ltd., which manufactures electric mining shovels, rotary blast hole drills and walking draglines for the surface mining industry.

Heavy haulers are massive industrial dump trucks restricted to work sites. They stand as much as three storeys high and are so large they aren't allowed on highways. They must be taken apart for transport.

 

Copyright (c) 2008 The Canadian Press