BC Place roof deflation preventable: report

An engineer's report on the collapse of the roof at Vancouver's BC Place says the Jan. 5, 2007, incident could have been prevented if proper procedure had been followed to promptly react to snow accumulation.

The report released Thursday attributed the deflation of the air-supported fabric roof on the stadium to a combination of factors, including pre-existing damage, human error and bad weather.

Staff didn't follow procedures to clear snow from the roof, so snow and slush built up and flattened the centre panels, according to the report by Geiger Engineers.

An attempt to re-inflate the dome caused the heavy load to shift onto a degraded section of the roof, creating a tear in the fabric that led to the deflation, the report said.

Howard Crosley, general manager of BC Place, told CBC News Thursday that changes in training and technology have been made to help better assess weather data and the condition of the roof.

"They're given real-time weather data from multiple sources so they know what is actually happening outside," Crosley said.

"There are two cameras that are now placed on adjacent buildings, which allow us to observe what's going on the roof."

A culture of complacency and an acute lack of training led to the collapse of the dome, claims the union representing workers at BC Place.

Reacting to the engineer's report which was prepared for BC Place management, the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union released a second report Thursday night — the result of a joint investigation by the union and management that began days after the collapse.

Union director Jeff Fox told CBC News that management failed "to implement the necessary policies, procedures and training that, if done, would have prevented the collapse of the roof."

Fox admitted staff didn't react as they should that day when snow was building up on the roof and nobody activated a heating system that would have melted it.

But the joint report said staff weren't trained on snow melting procedures and that they felt they shouldn't turn on the heat without management's approval, Fox said.

"There was an unofficial view held by staff that they were not encouraged to activate the heat because of the costs associated with doing so," he said.

Crosley said the damaged section of roof that ultimately ripped had been missed in an earlier inspection, but that alone was not the cause of the deflation.

Damaged panels have been repaired and the fabric is in good condition, he said.

The roof was re-inflated on Jan. 19, 2007.