Helen Furuya says her husband died in the next-door office because of a company’s mistakes
The wife of an office worker who died when a crane fell in downtown Kelowna, B.C., almost two years ago has filed a lawsuit against the construction company, saying that it was careless and caused her husband’s death.
Brad Zawislak, Helen Furuya’s husband, was killed when a steel crane crashed into his office building on July 12, 2021.
“Because of the accident mentioned above, Brad Zawislak died, and his wife lost his love, guidance, care, services, training, and financial support,” said a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Five people died in the accident, which happened where the Brooklyn at Bernard Block condo tower was being built.
The lawsuit is the first claim from the families of the victims while they wait for answers from the criminal and workplace investigations that are still going on.
As the victim worked in his office, a crane fell on it
The claim said that Zawislak, who was 43 years old when he died, was a senior technologist for Protech Consulting. The office of the civil engineering firm is right next to the construction site.
When the crane crashed into Zawislak’s building, he was buried by the debris. A team of experts in search and rescue found his body almost two days later.
“Brad’s personality was bigger than life, and he was the perfect example of everything Protech tries to be in everything we do.”His friendly, hardworking, do-it-all attitude is something that can’t be replaced,” the company said on its website.
“Brad was able to balance his work and family life in a way that was inspiring. He always made everyone he met want to be a better person. Brad will always be remembered, and the Protech Team will always include him.
At the time, the RCMP said something “catastrophic” happened around 10:45 a.m. while the crane was being taken apart.
Mounties and WorkSafeBC both started investigations at the same time, but they haven’t told the public much since.
In the spring update, Mounties said that investigators were still trying to figure out if any crimes had been done.
In a statement, police said they are looking at “thousands of pieces of evidence” and couldn’t say anything else “to protect the integrity” of the investigation.
WorkSafeBC said its investigation is done, but because of an agreement with police, the agency has not made its findings public.
Eric and Patrick Stemmer, as well as construction workers Cailen Vilness and Jared Zook, were also killed when the building fell. The brothers worked for Stemmer Construction, the family business, which had a contract to run the crane.
In Furuya’s lawsuit, there is only one named defendant, and that is Stemmer Construction.
The company has not sent a reply to the court.