A provincial court in Fort St. John, BC has fined two construction companies and two supervisors over an incident in 2019, wherein a worker fell from a bridge that was under construction and died.
According to a statement from WorkSafeBC, the bridge in question was in northeastern BC, and at the time of the incident, the worker had no fall-protection equipment, nor were there guardrails to prevent falls.
The main contractor of the bridge construction, Yoho Resources, as well as the victim’s employer, Great Northern Bridgeworks, were each fined $70,000 – in addition to a 15% victim fine surcharge. Meanwhile, bridge foreman Randolph Kosick has been fined $8,500, while Yoho site supervisor Brain Baker was fined $7,500, plus victim fine surcharges. All four have pleaded guilty to charges under the WorkersC Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
In addition to the fines, the two supervisors and their respective company representatives have been ordered to attend court-ordered health and safety courses, CBC News reported.
WorkSafe did not disclose the identity of the victim.
