Saskatoon company fined $91K after worker’s death

A Saskatoon company has been fined $91,000 in connection with a worker’s death on the job in 2018.

Basic Truck & Trailer Repair Inc., pleaded guilty in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Feb. 3 to a violation of Occupational Health and Safety legislation.

According to a media release from the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, the incident occurred on July 31, 2018. A worker was fixing a strap on a truck box’s hydraulic cylinder when the strap broke, fatally injuring the person.

The company was charged with failing “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. The company was fined $65,000 with a $26,000 surcharge.