Quebec’s occupational safety board blames poor safety practices on the Old Port of Montreal ferris wheel for the death of a tourist attraction worker on Christmas Day 2021.
Workplace safety board report released today says 22-year-old Riley Valcin died after being trapped in machinery that spins the 60-meter-high structure .
Valcin was clearing snow from the drive while the wheel was running, and the board says the area where Valcin died should never have been accessible to workers.
Board inspector Judy Major says the ferris wheel workers were not properly trained and “improvised” a dangerous method of clearing the snow.
The Ferris wheel lights up with the colors of the rainbow in Montreal on Monday, April 6, 2020. The Quebec Occupational Safety Board says poor safety practices at a wheelbarrow ferries in the Old Port of Montreal killed a worker on Christmas Day 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS / Paul Chiasson
Inspection reports released by the board indicate that the ferry wheel safety inspection logbook had not been completed as of March 10, 2021.
The company that owns the ferris wheel, La Grande Roue de Montréal, said today in a statement that it is cooperating fully with the provincial security council and that “all the main corrective measures requested have been implemented.”
The owners of the wheel rent a space in the city’s Old Port on land owned by the federal Crown Corporation Canada Lands Company.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 9, 2022.