Worker falls from scaffolding at work
Nova Scotia employer Blaine MacLane Excavation Ltd. has been fined $80,000 after one of its workers died in the workplace.
The employer must also pay a victim-fine surcharge of $12,000 and provide $8,000 worth of community service to non-profits in Pictou County.
The incident happened on Dec. 9, 2020, when Jeff MacDonald, a self-employed electrician, was working on a scaffolding at one of the company’s workplaces located in Pictou County.
In a decision released Wednesday, a Nova Scotia provincial court judge in Pictou noted that MacDonald was near the top of the structure when it collapsed.
The company "failed in its duty" to ensure that pins essential to the scaffolding's stability were present at the worksite, said Judge Bryna Hatt, according to a CBC report.
While Blaine MacLane Excavation did not own the scaffolding present on its job site, there was no evidence the company took steps to prevent injury, the judge said, according to a report from The Canadian Press posted on Global News.
MacDonald’s widow found her husband’s body at the job site after he didn’t pick up their children as planned and she couldn’t get in touch with him over the phone, she said when she testified at the trial.
Julie MacDonald said she knew her husband had died upon finding him because she had a nursing training.
She also waited alone in the dark for emergency responders to arrive after calling for help, she said.
"My words cannot express how tragic this accident was for her, the children, and their extended family," Hatt wrote in the sentencing decision, according to the two reports.
"No financial penalty will undo the damage and harm that has been done, or adequately represent the loss of Mr. MacDonald to his family, friends, and our community."
