Construction work halted after cars splattered

A stop-work notice has been issued at a downtown Calgary construction site after a liquid fell onto several vehicles parked on Ninth Avenue near the Eighth Avenue Place tower.

The city sent inspectors to the site Tuesday, a day after the white, chalky substance was found splattered on at least six vehicles.

"We were out there to investigate claims of dirty water falling from the site of Eighth Avenue Place," Marco Civitarese, a senior special projects officer with the city.

He said they discovered workers were actually spraying flame retardant on the roof and ordered builder EllisDon to provide the city with a safety plan before continuing that work.

Civitarese said the material is not hazardous, but the company will have to outline how it will be able to prevent similar accidents from happening.

"It's serious," he said. "The ownership group has to come to the table and understand these are all serious incidents and we have that zero tolerance."

This is the third time since April that a stop-work notice has been issued at the site.

Last week, a piece of metal binding about 2.5 centimetres wide and three metres long fell from the building and landed on an SUV travelling past the site. The woman driving the vehicle was not hurt.

In April, high winds sent a piece of plywood crashing down from the same project. No one was hurt in that incident.