In a bid to encourage workplace safety, the provincial government has released a list of 12 Manitoba employers that have been fined for serious accidents dating back to 2010.
At least two of the accidents occurred in northern Manitoba. The first came on April 20, 2011, when a worker at Lafarge Canada at the Wuskwatim dam site was fatally injured on the job.
The worker suffered a traumatic head injury when he was struck by a metal bar while in the process of removing a fabric panel from a temporary structure that was being dismantled.
Lafarge was later ordered to pay $187,550
in fines and surcharges.
On Oct. 7, 2011, a worker at the Vale mining company in Thompson was fatally injured on the job. The worker was operating heavy equipment to place a portable steel bumper near the edge of an opening that was created when ore was extracted underground. The equipment went over the edge of the opening, falling approximately 120 feet to the ground below.
Vale was subsequently ordered to pay $187,500 in fines and surcharges.
When a workplace incident occurs, the province’s Workplace Safety and Health branch investigates and can recommend prosecution if it is determined the employer did not have appropriate safeguards in place or did not implement legislated requirements, or that employees had not been properly trained.
