A worker on the Pinetree Way enhancement project was injured Wednesday afternoon while working on an underground pipe.
Mark Zaborniak, Coquitlam's manager of transportation and design, said the worker is an employee of Wilco Civil Inc., a company that has been contracted for the first phase of construction.
"The work they were doing is related to work on a drainage pipe approximately 2 m below the surface," Zaborniak said.
The worker was using a grinder that malfunctioned, causing the blade to break apart and injuring the worker. Zaborniak did not know how seriously the worker was injured.
WorkSafe BC spokesperson Trish Knight Chernecki said preliminary reports indicated a power tool exploded and the worker fell down a seven-foot hole.
"We are, of course, investigating," she said, with an inspection report expected in the next couple of weeks.
Privacy regulations prevent any disclosure of the worker's injuries, Knight Chernecki added.
Wilco Civil was awarded the contract in April for Pinetree Way enhancement projects between Lincoln Avenue and Barnet Highway, including removing and transplanting median trees, removing the west-side curb and sidewalk and drainage works.
The work is expected to wrap up in August and is part of improvements being done around the Evergreen Line, which is set to open in fall of 2016.
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