Employer Fined $112,000 For Workplace Fatality

Released on May 17, 2023

Bench Hutterian Brethren Corp. pleaded guilty to two violations of occupational health and safety regulations in Shaunavon Provincial Court on May 4, 2023.

The company was fined $40,000 and a surcharge of $16,000 for contravening subsection 11-2(2) of The Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2020 (being an employer fail to ensure that only trained operators are required or permitted to operate powered mobile equipment, resulting in the death of a worker). In addition, they pleaded guilty and were fined $40,000 with a $16,000 surcharge for contravening clause 12-27(2)(b) (being and employer fail to ensure that a work platform mounted on a forklift on which a worker may be raised or lowered or required or permitted to work is securely attached to the forks of the forklift to prevent accidental lateral or vertical movement of the platform, resulting in the death of a worker). Together the fines totaled $112,000. One charge was stayed.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on November 25, 2021, near Shaunavon where a worker was fatally injured when the work platform they were standing on fell 25 feet from the forks of a telehandler. 

Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, in partnership with the Workers' Compensation Board, supports and promotes Mission: Zero - zero workplace injuries, zero fatalities and zero suffering.

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