Saskatchewan truck repair company fined $91K after 2018 worker death

Basic Truck & Trailer Repair Inc. pled guilty in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Feb. 3 to violating one count under occupational health and safety legislation.

The company was charged with contravening subsection 164(1) of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 1996, being an employer failed to ensure that where a worker may be required or permitted to perform maintenance, repairs or other work on or under an elevated part of a unit of powered mobile equipment, the elevated part is securely blocked to prevent accidental movement, resulting in the death of a worker.

Two other charges were stayed. As a result of this violation, the court imposed a fine of $65,000 with a $26,000 surcharge, for a total amount of $91,000, according to a news release.

The charge stemmed from a workplace incident that occurred in Saskatoon on July 31, 2018.  A worker was fixing a strap on a truck box’s hydraulic cylinder.  The strap broke, resulting in a fatal injury to the worker.

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.