Citynow Construction site lacked traffic control supervisor, WorkSafe found

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Safe inspector found a Square Nine worker, who was later determined not to have completed a board-approved traffic control training program, flagging around another cement truck at the same site without the proper personal protective equipment and with no temporary traffic control devices in place

The traffic management plan the inspec- tor was shown indicated a section of the road should have been closed to traffic, a flagger should have been at each end of the closure, and temporary signs and barriers should have been set up.

Instead there was just one worker directing traffic on a street “open to the flow of traffic ”

The developer had also failed to complete a mandatory traffic control risk assessment.

The inspector shut down work at the site, saying it wouldn’t resume until a risk assessment had been completed.

When she returned later the same day, however, she saw another worker, also later determined not to have completed a board-approved flagging program, controlling traffic without the required equipment and personal protective gear, so a second stop-work order was

The inspector also determined Square Nine didn’t have a qualified traffic control supervisor assigned to the site

Work was allowed to resume after Square Nine had a risk assessment completed and addressed other issues flagged by the inspector

Within days, however, on March 18, 2022, she returned to the site and saw another Square Nine worker flagging around a concrete pump truck on a street that hadn’t been closed to traffic contrary to the traffic-control plan

“At this time I determined that my previous orders issued at this site did not motivate the employer to ensure the coordination of health and safety activities at this workplace and to have a system or process in place to ensure compliance and

I issued a ‘stop work’ order for all work activities,” states the report.

Square Nine was eventually fined $2,500 for violations related to the flagger’s death and another $2,500 for the violations that followed, which WorkSafe characterized as “high-risk.”

The NOW has reached out to Square Nine owner and founder Manish Sharma and is waiting to hear back.