Edmonton window washer fall sparks two investigations

Window washing incident investigation The city has launched an investigation into the property maintenance company involved in the Stantec Tower window washing incident.

The City of Edmonton says it is "actively investigating" a window washing company that was performing work on the city's tallest tower when a suspended platform smashed into the building, throwing a man over a railing.

A city spokeswoman told CTV News Aurum Window Cleaning is being investigated, but declined to give further details because the investigation was active.

Occupational Health and Safety Alberta also confirmed it was formally investigating the Oct. 25 incident.

High winds whipped the window washing platform into the Stantec Tower, shattering windows and tossing the worker from the structure. First responders were called in to safely rescue the man, who was left dangling by a safety strap. No one was injured in the incident.

In the aftermath, questions surfaced about why the company was allowed to wash windows despite a wind warning in effect for the Edmonton area.

"This is an accident that should not have happened," Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said. "There was an official wind advisory from Environment Canada and whoever was supervising that project should have known about that, and should have gotten workers off the side of that building right away."

OHS was immediately notified but said it didn't launch a formal investigation right away because no one was hurt.

The company has since received new information that prompted the investigation.

"The fact they didn't launch an investigation immediately is very troubling," said McGowan. "Not only do we need an investigation, we need some consequences so fines, prosecution."

An instructor who teaches a certification course on swing stages says guidelines dictate that anyone working on a suspended platform must record the conditions they'll be working in prior to going up.

"That alone should have shut them down," said Sliver Delorey. "You take about 45 minutes to an hour before you even get on the stage to push the up button because you're required to, it's law."

Delorey said it's possible the wind may have picked up after the workers went up in the platform, or that the wind was worse higher up than on the ground level.

"Downtown Edmonton is very, very unpredictable like that," he said.

At first, it wasn't even clear which company was even performing the work.

CTV News Edmonton contacted PCL Construction, the prime contractor for the building, on Friday.

The company confirmed the window washers were sub-contractors but it couldn't initially confirm the name of the company. On Wednesday, PCL confirmed Aurum was contracted to wash windows by another sub-contractor.

A "work overhead" sign seen at the tower included Aurum's logo. Calls to Aurum's Edmonton and Toronto offices were not returned.

The city later confirmed it was investigating Aurum but did not reveal the nature of the investigation, only pointing to business licensing bylaws.

"Under the Business Licence Bylaw 13138, Section 4 it states: No person shall engage in or operate a business in the city unless the person holds a licence authorizing the person to engage in or operate a business," the city said.

CTV News Edmonton searched the City of Edmonton's business licence database and could find no existing licence for Aurum Property Care or Aurum Window Cleaning.

Any business found to be operating without a valid licence faces fines that are double the licensing fee, with an average fine of $470.