The operator escaped with his life but the excavator remained stuck under the crumpled silo for months. (Nelson Zandbergen photo)
Silo crushes excavator but operator escapes
Farmers Forum staff
CASSELMAN — No one was seriously hurt when an aging blue silo buckled and toppled onto an excavator as its operator escaped to safety. The excavator was pulling old haylage out of an opening in the side of the Harvestore structure. That was six months ago and nothing has moved since.
The silo was one of the last remaining pieces in a defunct old farmstead being cleaned up 3 km east of Casselman. But the collapse put a long stoppage to the work. Temporary industrial fencing went up around the scene, conspicuously preserving the crinkled silo-and-shovel sandwich for every passing motorist to marvel at.
Coalwater Construction was handling the demolition work on the property owned by the Coulange dairy-farming family.
“It’s dragging on because of insurance purposes,” but the plan was to remove the excavator before the end of October, a Coalwater representative told Farmers Forum.
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said that a worker sustained minor injuries in the incident. The ministry has issued eight orders on Coalwater but gave no details because the matter remains under investigation.
From photos of the wreckage, it appears the silo became top-heavy when material higher up in the column failed to slide down, causing the silo’s bottom portion to buckle.
