NL

Nalcor waiting for report on 'extremely upsetting' transmission tower deaths

The head of Nalcor says he's still waiting for a report into a double fatality on the job site of a hydro project.

Stan Marshall says company committed to safety, other employees are devastated

Each steel tower weighs about 10 tonnes. There are 580 of them being installed on the line from Bay d'Espoir. (Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro)

The CEO of Nalcor says he is still waiting for a report on Monday's double fatality on the job site of a hydro project.

"We are a company that lives and breathes safety in everything we do. It's in our culture. So to have something like this happen is therefore extremely upsetting. Everyone at Hydro and Nalcor is devastated by this event," Stan Marshall said Friday.

Two men — Tim McLean, 31, from Ontario and Jared Moffat, 34, from Saskatchewan — died following the collapse of a transmission tower near Come By Chance.

They were part of a crew building a new 230 kilovolt line from the western Avalon Peninsula to Bay d'Espoir.

Jared Moffat and Tim McLean died when a transmission tower collapsed near Come By Chance. (Facebook/GoFundMe)

Marshall called the deaths a "tragic incident" and said Nalcor's first priority is to support the families.

He said the employer, Forbes Bros., has yet to finish its report. 

"The contractor is primarily responsible and they have to investigate what happened out there … We have assisted in every way we can. When we know what happened, we will make sure it is conveyed publicly," Marshall told reporters.

"I had expected by now to receive the report, but we haven't."

Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall says two deaths were extremely upsetting for a company committed to safety. (Cal Tobin/CBC)

Marshall was asked whether the accident happened when crews were replacing a guy wire that was too short.

"That may well be the case, I don't know," he said. "A distinct possibility. I mean if the tower collapsed, it had to be because one of the guys [wires] let go, presumably, but I don't know."

Work on the towers is halted while the investigation continues, but Marshall said other work on the transmission line has resumed.