Workers tried to warn colleague of speeding SUV moments before fatal crash near Victoria

Steve Seekins, a 52-year-old father of two, died instantly when a black SUV veered off the road into Bowker Creek Park in Oak Bay, B.C., and struck him on May 17, 2023. (WorkSafeBC)

An investigation into the 2023 death of a municipal worker in Oak Bay, B.C., found that foam earplugs prevented him from hearing his colleagues’ shouted warnings before a speeding SUV struck and killed him.

The workplace safety investigation report, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, says the three municipal workers discussed using headset radios that morning but opted instead to wear earplugs and communicate using hand signals while conducting sewer and storm drain maintenance.

Steve Seekins, a 52-year-old father of two, died instantly when a black SUV veered off the road into Bowker Creek Park and struck him on May 17, 2023.

The driver, who the Oak Bay Police Department described as “elderly,” was not charged after investigators found she had suffered a medical episode, causing her to lose control of her vehicle as it sped erratically across both lanes of traffic and through the marked work zone.

According to the WorkSafeBC report, Seekins and two other city workers were clearing a section of pipe through an access hole located about three metres from the street when the collision occurred shortly before 8 a.m.

Seekins was kneeling over the access hole with a flashlight when the SUV sped past the crew’s flusher truck, prompting the foreman and truck operator to yell to Seekins.

“The SUV did not brake, but accelerated straight through the corner, jumping the curb,” the partially redacted report states. “The SUV (redacted) and then struck a large tree, which brought the SUV to an immediate stop.”

A workplace safety investigator found the three-member municipal crew held a briefing before the day’s work, which included discussion of safety considerations.

They also used appropriate traffic-control cones around the work site and conducted a risk assessment on scene, which noted the area’s 30 km/h speed limit and proximity to the Oak Bay fire and police stations, which are located about 100 metres from where the fatal collision occurred.

“The task the labourer was conducting at the time of the incident was not out of the ordinary and none of the workers perceived it as unsafe in the context of this work environment,” the report says.

“From the perspective of a potential struck-by incident, it would have been deemed low risk because the downstream access hole was located approximately three metres off the road, in a green space. The incident was not a reasonably foreseeable event.”

The report found that two-way radios were available to the workers to allow them to communicate over the sound of the saw they were using to remove tree roots from the pipes. But the foreman and truck operator reportedly told the investigator that the radios “could not reach a high enough volume for the workers to be able to communicate” over the noise, according to the report.

“In addition, the noise cancellation feature of the radio can lead to decreased situational awareness for the downstream worker,” the report says. “The labourer was in the role of downstream worker and was required to listen for sounds that indicate the saw was approaching the exit point of the storm pipe being flushed.”

The report found that even if Seekins had been alerted in the moments before the crash, it was likely already too late.

“The SUV was travelling at a speed of (redacted) km/h,” the report states.

“The average adult male reaction time is 0.5 seconds. The labourer was 75 metres — less than three seconds of SUV travel time — from the flusher truck, which meant there would have been less than three seconds for the operator or the foreman to react to the SUV passing them and call out, and then for the labourer to look up, process what was happening, and react.”

The investigation report, authored on Aug. 22, 2024, concludes that municipalities “should take into account the frequency and duration of worker exposure to traffic when planning the installation and maintenance” of sewer infrastructure.

“Work on or near roadways exposes workers to traffic hazards,” the report says. “Traffic is unpredictable as drivers are susceptible to human error, which can be caused by a number of factors, including medical events.”

Seekins had been employed by the District of Oak Bay’s public works department for less than a year at the time of the crash.

According to an obituary published by the Bear Creek Funeral Home, Seekins had been severely injured as a child in a 1976 automobile crash that claimed the life of his mother.