Shuswap construction company fined $11,000 after worker killed on site

WorkSafeBC said unsafe practices had become normalized.

Elevate your local knowledge Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today! Elevate your local knowledge Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today! Select Region Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

A Shuswap construction company has been fined $11,000 after an employee was killed at work last summer. An April 2 WorkSafeBC Inspection Report says an employee at Mounce Construction was standing in the bed of a dump truck when the accident happened. “While leaning out of the cab to hear the worker, the excavator operator bumped the joystick that controlled the boom, causing the boom and bucket to swing and crush the worker against the raised side of the truck bed,” the report reads.

The report says workers were loading concrete sewer rings into the bed of a dump truck when the incident happened. An excavator was used to lift the rings while the person positioned inside the truck bed then disconnected them. The WorkSafeBC report says the dump truck’s idling engine generated significant noise, which made it difficult for the workers to communicate with each other.

“When communicating, the worker moved to an area of the dump truck bed within the swing distance of the excavator boom and from which there was no escape path. When the operator leaned out to better hear the worker, he inadvertently contacted the joystick that controlled the boom,” the report says. The report states that Mounce Construction failed to implement an occupational health and safety program and that workplace inspections were absent or severely deficient, “resulting in unsafe practices to became normalized.”

Media reports from last year identified the employee as 33-year-old Salmon Arm man Quinton Watson. A Shuswap car club’s memorial event saw more than 600 vehicles show up in his honour. “(Mounce Construction) did not provide the workers with the necessary information, instruction, and training on critical hazard controls for the task they were performing,” the report reads.

Ultimately, WorkSafeBC issued a $11,613 fine to the firm. News from © iNFOnews.ca, .