City of Vancouver employees mourn colleague killed in workplace accident

The Canadian flag was hanging at half mast outside Vancouver City Hall on Tuesday in memory of a longtime employee who died on the job last week.

Gord Dolyniuk, 64, had worked for the city for 32 years and was a truck driver in the engineering streets division.

According to a statement from the city's manager, he was involved in a fatal workplace accident at the National Yard location on Friday.

The yard, located at 701 National Ave., is the headquarters for the city's maintenance, construction and infrastructure crews. The flag is being flown at half mast at that facility, too.

"This is a devastating loss for our organization," said manager Paul Mochrie. "The city extends our deepest condolences to Gord's family, and to the many members of our staff who were Gord's friends and worked with him over the years."

Mochrie said despite the efforts of city staff and then first responders to keep him alive at the scene, Dolyniuk's injuries were too severe for him to survive.

The city has not released specific details of what happened, or how the accident occurred. WorkSafeBC told CBC Tuesday morning a prevention officer has been assigned and the agency is investigating.

Mochrie said the city is fully co-operating with WorkSafeBC's investigation and will also conduct its own.

"We will learn from this to prevent it from happening again — the most important thing to the city is that our employees get home safely," he said.

Messages of condolence flooded social media in the wake of Dolyniuk's death.

City councillors Lisa Dominato and Sarah Kirby-Yung, Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer, CUPE Local 402 and the B.C. Federation of Labour were among those who offered their sympathies online.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart posted to Twitter that he has spoken with the family and expressed his deepest sympathies on behalf of city council.