Worker punctures power line while drilling holes in a wall
A New Brunswick employer has been fined after exposing one worker to danger at work.
Moosehead Breweries was fined $7,500 for the incident that happened on Sept. 2, 2021.
A contractor was drilling holes to fix cracks in a retaining wall. During that process, the worker punctured a 15kv power line.
The brewery lost power for several hours and incurred significant financial loss. Luckily there were no injuries.
Moosehead failed to inform contractors that there was a power line in a concrete wall.
The employer was penalized for “violating paragraph 11(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of any person at its workplace,” according to the WorkSafeNB.
Numerous workers have previously been hurt because of electrical hazards in the workplace, and several employers have been asked to pay.
A worker for trucking company Le Groupe Neault was killed in an electrocution accident in Trois-Rivières, QC in July 2019.
British Columbia employer Iron Bay Holdings Ltd./Shack Shine was fined $5,000 after one of its workers sustained serious injuries in the workplace. The worker was using a telescoping cleaning pole to clean windows. During this process, the pole contacted an overhead high-voltage power line and the worker sustained serious injuries.
Ontario employer Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited was fined $200,000 after one of its workers was killed while connecting electrical cables.
Also, Ontario employer Otter Energy Inc. was fined a total of $100,000 after pleading guilty to two violations resulting in a workplace fatality. The employer was fined $50,000 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and $50,000 for a related conviction under the Electricity Act after one of its workers was electrocuted.
