Man dies while de-icing plane at Calgary airport

[wee_in_yyc]

Man dies while de-icing plane at Calgary airport


December 21, 2009 8:05 AM

CALGARY - A man died at Calgary International Airport this morning after falling 20 feet off of a de-icing machine, officials said.

A Calgary EMS spokesman said crews got the call at about 6 a.m. about the 30-year-old victim's fall. According to EMS, on-scene airport staff tried to revive the man but failed.

The victim was pronounced dead by EMS upon their arrival on scene.

No further details have been released, and the cause of the incident remains under investigation.

More to come...

© Copyright © The Calgary Herald

[cyeg66]

That's just awful. My condolences to his family and friends. The joy of the holidays just went away for some people.

[Raybanman]

I was very sad to hear about this this morning. Such a horrible thing to happen at any time of the year. My condolences to the family.

PP

[No Conflict]

Sympathies and Condolences to the family...What a terrible way to start a holiday season....

[Lowjack]

Picture from the Herald website:

[matrix]

From cbc.ca

A worker at the Calgary airport is dead after falling out of a cherry picker while de-icing an aircraft.

The man fell at about 6 a.m. MT Monday while spraying an airplane with de-icing fluid, which removes and protects against ice, frost and snow build-up.

He was declared dead at the scene.

The man worked for Servisair, which does de-icing work at the airport.

Alberta health and safety investigators are looking into the incident.

[Tango01]

Apologize for my rant, it was inappropriate. Sorry guys, Im letting my own industry-induced frustration take over common sense.

My sincere condolences to the family and friends.

[matt foley]

Not very classy. Ranting about pay on a subject of some poor fellas demise. Without guys like this we would go no where. Bad luck and a bad day.


Matt

[Captain_Canuck]

Not a very nice way to begin the holiday season. The poor guy was just doing his job.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased.

[flyinthebug]

Not very classy. Ranting about pay on a subject of some poor fellas demise. Without guys like this we would go no where. Bad luck and a bad day.


Matt

Well said matt. This is not the thread to rant about our personal opinions. This gentlemens family may well come and read these posts too.

My condolences to the friends and family. Its the worst time of yr for this type of thing to happen.
Very sad accident.

Fly safe all.

[niss]

That really sucks, very sad to hear, especially given the time of year.

Sympathies to all who knew him.

[johnholmes]

Would you not have to be tied off to the basket somehow. I would have thought in this day and age it would be mandatory if your working above a certain height. You've gotta think something like this is preventable in the future. None the less, very sad...

[Lowjack]

From the Herald:

CALGARY - A man died at Calgary International Airport this morning after falling 20 feet off of a de-icing machine, officials said.

A Calgary EMS spokesman said crews got the call at about 6 a.m. about the victim's fall. According to EMS, on-scene airport staff tried to revive the man but failed.

The victim, in his 30s, died instantly, officials said.

"Airport staff attempted to do CPR on him," said Steve Vanbakel with the Calgary EMS. "When EMS arrived, there was no pulse. He was not breathing."

The man's name has not been released. Some co-workers told the Herald this morning the deceased man had a son.

No further details have been released about what happened, and the cause of the incident remains under investigation. Human Resource Skills Development Canada is investigating, since the incident happened in an area under federal jurisdiction.

The plane being de-iced by the machine involved appeared to be a Canadian North flight, according to images obtained this morning. Officials said the plane had 35 passengers onboard. Engine was not running when two contract employees from Service Air were de-icing the plane at 6:05 am.

No passengers witnessed the man plummeting to his death. A co-worker rushed to the man's aid but told police the victim died instantly.

There are no Canadian North flights listed for departure from Calgary today, according to the airport's website. The airline said they stopped operating passenger service to Calgary on Oct. 9, but its charter flight service continues to operate a main base at YYC.

There are no significant delays being reported at the airport this morning. There was light snow falling at the airport at the time of the incident, and snow had been falling since 4 p.m. Sunday.

Windspeed was clocked at 17 km/h at the time of the incident.

More to come...
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[fogghorn]

Very, very sad that this happens, now I guess will be a push on to ensure these guys are using safety harness's. Why no harness in the first place and working alone I have no idea..

[shitdisturber]

Very, very sad that this happens, now I guess will be a push on to ensure these guys are using safety harness's. Why no harness in the first place and working alone I have no idea..

If it's anything like the de icer trucks I was checked out on in my military days; there was nowhere in the basket for a harness to be attached that I remember; and unfortunately working alone was just the way it was done. My sympathies to the family.

[YO_MAMMA]

such a sad news...my thoughts are with the victim's family.

[KAG]

My prayers go out to the family and friends of this person. Very sad day indeed.

Be safe everyone.

[Lowjack]

It looks like Wee_in_YYC got a picture of the site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wee_in_yyc/4204351258/

[flyinthebug]

Apologize for my rant, it was inappropriate. Sorry guys, Im letting my own industry-induced frustration take over common sense.

My sincere condolences to the family and friends.

Thanks Tango1.

[jsmetalbashers]

This is criminal. The company should be held liable for this. We have to wear a harness for any height over 8ft. My condolences to the family and friends.

[sky's the limit]

This is criminal. The company should be held liable for this. We have to wear a harness for any height over 8ft. My condolences to the family and friends.

It is hard to believe that in Canada in this day and age you can have an unsecured worker at those heights. Truly tragic, my best to the family and co-workers.

stl

[Lowjack]

This is criminal. The company should be held liable for this. We have to wear a harness for any height over 8ft. My condolences to the family and friends.

It is hard to believe that in Canada in this day and age you can have an unsecured worker at those heights. Truly tragic, my best to the family and co-workers.

stl

Anyone else thinking about the Ice Pilots thread and issues raised in there?

[matrix]

I last worked the ramp 5 yrs ago. We did all the loading/unloading and deicing too. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I wore the harness to deice. It was cumbersome and wasn't comfortable to wear. I look back on that and realize how stupid I was.

If something had happened, I don't think it would have been fair to blame my employer. I knew that the harness was required, but chose not to use it.

It's a hard lesson to learn.

My condolences to this man's family.

[godsrcrazy]

This is criminal. The company should be held liable for this. We have to wear a harness for any height over 8ft. My condolences to the family and friends.

It is hard to believe that in Canada in this day and age you can have an unsecured worker at those heights. Truly tragic, my best to the family and co-workers.

stl

i Know this is poor taste to get into it on this forum. If you have been following the Ice pilots site you will see tie off doesn't seem to be a big deal to most people.

Condolences to the family. This is a tough time to loss a loved one.

[whiteguy]

Very, very sad that this happens, now I guess will be a push on to ensure these guys are using safety harness's. Why no harness in the first place and working alone I have no idea..

Where does it say anything about no harness and working alone? There's always 2 guys in the de-ice truck. One driving and one spraying. How about waiting till any sort of investigation is completed before you start yapping about something you don't know about!!!!