Nalcor, Emera ordered to inspect hydro towers following deaths
The provincial government has ordered Nalcor and Emera to check the installation of new electricity towers after the death of three workers this year.
The towers for the transmission line for the Muskrat Falls project and the new power line being built between Bay d'Espoir and the western Avalon will have to be inspected by a professional engineer, the Occupational Health and Safety division of Service NL announced Wednesday afternoon.
Towers for the Maritime Link, which will be used to send power from Musrkat Falls to Nova Scotia, are also covered under this order
The companies — Newfoundland and Labrador Crown corporation Nalcor and the Nova Scotia-based Emera — will also have to audit their procedures for installing, adjusting and replacing components of guywire-supported towers.
Two men died June 19 when a tower erected by Forbes Brothers, a contractor for Nalcor, collapsed.
A tower on the Maritime Link also collapsed earlier this month, with no injuries. Since that collapse Emera suspended work on the line.
In January, a man working on a transmission tower for the Maritime Link died near Stephenville Crossing.
"We are doing everything we can, we're taking these incidents very seriously," Perry Trimper, the minister for Service NL told CBC News.
The directives were issued Friday. The companies have been given until June 28 to provide timelines for carrying out the inspections.
Companies promise cooperation
"We will take the appropriate amount of time to ensure we understand the circumstances surrounding this issue and will address all findings before work continues on this portion of the HVdc transmission line," Emera's Jeff Myrick wrote in an email.
In total the Lower Churchill project involves the erection of just over 3,200 towers from Muskrat Falls to Soldiers Pond, with 580 on the line from Bay d'Espoir to the western Avalon Peninsula. A spokesperson for Nalcor didn't say how many towers are covered by the order.
"Nalcor and Hydro will co-operate fully with OHS to help determine the cause of last week's tragic event and prevent any such incident in the future," Erin Squires, manager of corporate communications with NL Hydro, wrote in an email.
Trimper said he's waiting for timelines from the companies before he knows what if any impact these inspections will have on the delayed hydro project.
"I'll wait and see what they have in their plans, and I guess we'll have a better understanding then if there are any delays."
