A worker contracted as part of the crews working on BC Hydro's Northwest Transmission Line was killed in an accident March 15.
Two workers were in a man basket that was part of a 22-ton mobile crane on rubber tires at the work site about 50 km north of Terrace March 15, said WorkSafe BC spokesperson Ally Skinner-Reynolds March 17.
The man basket was suspended from the crane and about 85 feet off the ground, she said.
They were putting conductors in place on a tower when the accident happened.
"It looks like a worker signalled for the crane to be lowered and something happened," said Skinner-Reynolds.
"The man bucket was swung around and hit the boom and the worker was thrown out to the ground below."
There were no reports on whether anything happened to the second man in the basket, she said.
WorkSafe BC is investigating to find out what happened and an engineer is at the site to do an inspection, she added.
A stop work order was issued at the site, she said.
The man, whose name has not been released, was an employee of McGregor Construction 2000 Ltd, based in Edmonton, Alberta, said Skinner-Reynolds.
Alex Budzinski, projects and public relations for Valard, the company building the transmission line, said the company is reviewing the accident.
"There was a fatality on a Valard project on March 15. The individual works for one of our stringing contractors, not Valard Construction," he said.
Terrace RCMP Sgt. Mike Robinson said police were called out to the accident scene.
"The investigation is currently under the jurisdiction of Worksafe BC and the BC Coroner's Service, he said.
BC Hydro executive vice president Greg Reimer said he was saddened by the death of the worker.
"On behalf of everyone at BC Hydro, I offer my sincerest condolences to the employee's family and co-workers. BC Hydro will work with the contractor to cooperate fully with investigation by WorkSafeBC and we will continue to offer any other support and assistance we can to the contractor and their employees," he said in a statement released March 17.
"Although there was no immediate danger to any other crews on-site, construction on the line was stopped immediately out of respect for the employee."