City investigates 17 wind-related safety issues after windstorm tears through city
City of Calgary officials investigated 17 safety incidents after a windstorm whipped through town Tuesday afternoon, downing power lines and sending debris flying.
The city has a safety response unit that looks into incidents related to materials falling from buildings or construction sites into public areas.
The coordinator of the unit, Wayne Brown, said the most serious incident downtown involved a shattered window from Home Oil Tower.
Glass tumbled onto the glass roof of the nearby Devonian Garden and onto the street below. No one was injured.
As well, he said, a wall partially collapsed at a site in the northeast part of the city and pieces of a construction fence blew away.
"Each of the incidents that we attend is investigated, and out of these 17 incidents, there are no charges," Brown said.
In short, no safety rule violations were the cause of material blowing away or causing damage.
Child killed downtown in 2009
The safety unit was formed and city guidelines for construction site safety were drawn up after a three-year-old girl was killed in 2009 by roofing material that blew off of a downtown highrise under construction.
The city introduced a wind warning app in 2011 for building managers and construction companies so they can get accurate information on wind conditions.
Brown said the improvements have cut down on safety incidents, particularly around downtown highrises.
"The call volumes on the tall buildings, the construction sites, are down, so I believe that that awareness has really helped," Brown said.
"We had zero calls on the larger construction sites through that fairly fierce wind [on Tuesday]."
In 2012, the provincial government increased the maximum fines for safety violations to $100,000 for first offences and $500,000 for subsequent convictions.
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