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Nanaimo waste management company fined by WorkSafe B.C. after worker’s death

GFL Environmental fined $73,000 after ‘high-risk violation’
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WorkSafe B.C. issued a $73,000 fine to a Nanaimo waste management company after an investigation following a worker’s death. (Black Press file photo)

A waste management company in Nanaimo has been fined by WorkSafe B.C. following an investigation into the death of one of the company’s employees.

The investigation stemmed from the death of a truck driver after the driver was hit by a commercial truck trailer.

The death, according to findings of the WorkSafe B.C. investigation released last month, occurred when one of the company’s drivers was reconnecting a trailer to a transport truck. The driver was waiting for the trailer’s air system to recharge when the trailer rolled and struck him, causing fatal injuries.

The investigation determined the trailer’s wheels had not been chocked to prevent the trailer from rolling.

The WorkSafe B.C. report noted GFL Environmental had not conducted a risk assessment for the task of reconnecting the trailer, nor did its work procedures mandate the use of wheel chocks. The investigation also found that a similar incident had occurred at one of the company’s other locations, but reports for that incident and safety operating procedures arising from it had not been communicated to all of the company’s locations and the company had also failed to provide its employees with the “information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety” which WorkSafe B.C. characterized as a “high-risk violation.”

A fine of $73,000 was imposed.

READ ALSO: Nanaimo Forest Products fined by WorkSafe B.C. after investigation of 2016 death



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