More than a year after a 22-year-old man died in a workplace accident in northern Manitoba, an employer has been charged under the provincial Workplace Safety and Health Act.
Forbes Bros. Ltd., an Edmonton-based company working on a Manitoba Hydro project, is facing seven counts that include failing to ensure the safety and health of its workers, failing to provide adequate training and competent supervision to its workers, and failing to develop and implement safe work procedures for the use of dunnage to secure a load on a trailer.
A Manitoba government spokesperson told APTN News the charges were sworn on April 18 in relation to the death of Todd Maytwayashing of Lake Manitoba First Nation.
Maytwayashing was a labourer at Forbes and helping load steel beams onto a semi-truck when his father, Barry Swan, said one beam fell and landed on his son’s head.
Swan told APTN he is “relieved” charges have been laid in his son’s death.
The death occurred at a work yard near Gillam, about 1,000 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, where Forbes is helping build a transmission line connecting the Keeyask Generating Station to the existing Radisson Converter Station.
Forbes said it is reviewing its practices to see where improvements can be made.
“…Our commitment to create a safe workplace every day at Forbes has not wavered,” the company said in a written statement to APTN.
