One year after five men were killed when a crane collapsed at a construction site in Kelowna, British Columbia, police and workplace safety investigators are still sifting through evidence about what happened and why.
As the families of the workers who died marked the somber anniversary, some said that while the wait for answers had been frustrating, they were willing to be patient if the long investigation meant a thorough one.
“I’m more than willing to wait,” Chris Vilnes said.
His son, 23-year-old Kylen Vilnes, was killed on his first day on the job after a vacation spent visiting family in his hometown of Kitimat. BC
Vilnes said he just wanted all the facts.
“We know the mechanics of what happened on that tower, but we’re still not sure about much of the rest of it,” he said.
“I want to know who’s responsible.”
Police say investigation ‘complex’
On the morning of July 12, 2021, a crane arm fell from about 25 stories while being dismantled at the site of a residential tower being built by real estate company Mission Group. It crashed into a neighboring office building and a nursing home.
Four construction workers were killed: Kylen Wilnes, Jared Zook, and brothers Eric and Patrick Stemmer. Brad Zawislak, who worked in the office building, also died. A fifth construction worker was injured in the collapse.
Kelowna RCMP say their investigation into the incident has been handed over to a special team in the Major Crimes Unit.
“This is a complex investigation into what is being described as one of the largest workplace fatalities in British Columbia’s history. There is a significant amount of technical evidence that my team needs to analyze,” said Kelowna RCMP Insp. Beth McAndy said in a news release.
Cranes rise above the construction site where five men were killed when a crane collapsed in Kelowna, British Columbia on July 12, 2021. A memorial to those who lost their lives can be seen on the fence of the site. (Winston Sceto/CBC)
WorkSafeBC says its investigators have spent the past year consulting with experts and engineers and reviewing evidence from the scene.
There’s no timetable for when that will be completed, but Jessica Berglund, WorkSafe BC’s director of occupational health and safety investigations, said Tuesday that most of the work is done and investigators are “getting very close to completion.”
A parallel BC Coroners Service investigation also remains open.
The North Okanagan Labor Council held a memorial service for the victims Tuesday, with a moment of silence to mark the time of the collapse, at approximately 10:45 a.m. PT.
Mission Group said it would shut down all of its construction sites for an hour at the same time and honored the fallen workers with five blasts from the air horn.
At a first anniversary memorial in Kelowna on July 12, 2022, candles are lit in front of photos of Jared Zook and Brad Zawislak, two of the five men who died in a construction crane collapse in 2021. (Winston Sceto/CBC)
Speaking at the memorial, Kelly Hutchinson, vice president of the labor council, encouraged everyone to wait for the investigations to conclude before jumping to any conclusions. But he said that when the investigating authorities publish their findings, everyone in the construction industry should take them seriously.
“It could have been any of you at any point in your life. Accidents don’t discriminate and you end up paying the ultimate price just for going to work,” Hutchinson told the crowd.
“This is unacceptable and so we must do better. I am calling on the entire industry and its workers to do so.”
‘My heart is broken; my mind is trying to catch up
The last year has been difficult for the families of the fallen men.
Zook’s parents, Pam and Stephen Zook, spoke at Tuesday’s memorial and described how their Christian faith helped them cope with the loss of their 32-year-old son.
“It is contrary to the natural order of life for a parent to bury a child, whether that child is an infant, 10, 23, 28, 32 or 44 years old. They are still your child. The heartache is still the same,” Stephen Zook said.
“When your child is taken, it takes a blow to your soul that many parents struggle to recover from. The statistics will show that some do not.”
Vilnes’ mother, Danielle Pritchett, said she doesn’t believe she’ll ever come to terms with what happened and struggled to find the words to describe what it’s like to realize her son has been gone for a year.
“There are no words to say what goes through your mind, because it is rather what goes through your heart. The mind doesn’t really come to grips with the fact that my son is gone forever. My heart is broken; my mind is trying to catch up with everything that happened,” she said.
Cailen Vilness is shown sitting on a construction crane in a family photo. The 23-year-old was one of four construction workers who were killed in the crane collapse in Kelowna, British Columbia on July 12, 2021. (Submitted by Daniel Pritchett)
Chris Vilness said he hopes the tragedy will lead to changes in regulation and training to ensure workers are always safe.
“I understand there’s always money and scheduling constraints, but that should never come at the expense of worker safety,” he said.
“People don’t go to work to give their lives.
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