A worker has been killed in a tree felling incident in Princess Park, North Vancouver RCMP say.
Around 11:40 a.m. on Friday (Sept. 30), first responders were called to a medical emergency involving an arborist, in an off-trail forested area just east of the children's playground in the park.
“Unfortunately, he did not survive his injuries,” said Const. Mansoor Sahak, North Vancouver RCMP spokesperson.
The victim's identity is not being released, although his employer says he was in his late 20s.
The District of North Vancouver, which owns Princess Park, had contracted DC Tree Services to remove hazardous trees on Sept. 30.
Company co-owner Shane Dorion issued a statement on behalf of the company on Tuesday.
“DC Tree is devastated from the loss of one of our brothers in a tragic workplace accident on the morning of Friday, September 30th at Princess Park, in North Vancouver,” it read. “We are deeply saddened by this incident. Our primary concern is for the family and friends of our coworker as well as employees of DC Tree Services who have been affected by this tragedy. Counselling support is being offered to those impacted.”
The company is working with the RCMP and WorkSafeBC “to complete a thorough investigation to help prevent this from happening again to any one of our brothers and sisters within the industry.”
The RCMP are working to rule out criminal wrongdoing in the case and WorkSafeBC and the BC Coroners Service are now investigating exactly what happened in the incident.
“Those details are not quite clear yet,” Sahak said.
The park remained open while the work was being done and during the initial phases of the investigation after the worker’s death.
Mayor Mike Little issued a statement on behalf of the municipality Monday afternoon.
“I want to express condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the worker who lost their life Friday while felling trees in a local park. This young man was performing important, essential work in our community,” it read. “Everyone deserves to return home safely at the end of the workday. But tragically, that wasn’t the case for this person. I have reached out to the company’s owners to offer my sympathies and support. The District of North Vancouver is a tight-knit community, and tragedies such as this affect all of us.”
