Companies suspends workers with pay
Irving Shipbuilding has suspended some workers in Nova Scotia over their work refusal.
The workers refused to report for work at the Halifax worksite over safety concerns, the company said, according to a report.
"We can confirm that there was a work refusal at the Halifax Shipyard yesterday," Mel Schori, Irving Shipbuilding's director of communications and government relations, told CTV News via email.
This comes after, on Feb. 19, Irving Shipyard confirmed that one worker died at its Halifax worksite.
The work refusal is now under investigation.
"In the normal course of addressing that work refusal, the Department of Labour attended the facility to review the circumstances and assess the merits of the work refusal. After completing its review, the Department of Labour deemed the work refusal unjustified," Schori said in the CTV News report.
Killed by a front loader
Halifax Regional Police and the Department of Labour are continuing their investigations into the incident that led to the death of 43-year-old Jamie Knight last week.
Sari Sairanen, executive assistant to the secretary treasurer at Unifor, and the former health and safety director at Unifor, provided exclusive details to Canadian Occupational Safety. According to Sairanen, "the worker was not performing his usual duties at the time of the accident. Instead, he was struck and killed by a front loader while it was clearing snowbanks at the shipyard."
Stop work order is in place
Following the incident, the labour department issued a stop work order for all snow removal equipment and processes on-site.
That order remains in place, the department said, according to the CTV News report. The department is also continuing its investigation into Knight’s death.
"We cannot share further details on this ongoing investigation. Workplace investigations are complex and can take up to two years to complete," MacLean, manager of Communications Nova Scotia, said in the report.
MacLean also said that the department looked into complaints at the site on Tuesday.
"On Feb. 21, 2024, Officers also responded to a safety concern raised by employees which has been resolved. Workplace safety is everyone’s responsibility and we do encourage all Nova Scotians to contact us at 1-800-9Labour," she said.
Irving Shipbuilding refused to comment further on the developments, reported CTV News.
