11 OHS charges filed over fatal trench collapse in northwest Calgary
Two years after the death of an apprentice plumber in northwest Calgary, Occupational Health and Safety charges have been laid against Mr. Mike's Plumbing Ltd., after a worker was fatally injured while working on a City of Calgary sewer line.
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On June 8, 2023, 27-year-old Liam Johnston was killed while working on a sewer line replacement excavation site in the alley of the 2600 block on 34th Avenue N.W., in the community of Charleswood.
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'He was outside and they had opened up a hole in the backyard of the home,' said Emily Gofton, the victim's partner. 'The company, according to the charges, did not have the proper safety equipment on site.'
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Although there were other employees on site, Johnston was working alone inside of a three- to six-metre hole, where he was trying to identify the pipe that needed to be replaced.
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'The retaining wall and the hole collapsed on him,' Gofton said. 'So that buried him alive in there, and the fire and rescue crews weren't able to recover his body for most of the day due to the lack of equipment that was on site.'
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On May 29, the Ministry of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration charged Mr. Mike's Plumbing Ltd. with 11 counts under the OHS laws, in connection with Johnston's death, a spokesman said in a statement issued to Postmedia.
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The charges outlined several failures to ensure the health, safety and welfare of a worker, including failure to ensure the protection of an employee from the collapse of an excavation wall, failure to implement safe work procedures in an excavation site and several OHS Code violations.
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The ministry also said that it is always tragic when a worker dies on the job, and that it is the province's goal to have all workers return home from work both healthy and safe every day.
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Gofton added that the Calgary Police Service completed its investigation on the incident, with investigators' findings sent to the Crown for review.
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'We're really hopeful that they'll be adding criminal charges on top of these occupational health and safety charges as well,' she said.
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From statements to various forms of evidence, Gofton said she is thankful for the support from community members and former employees who stepped forward during the investigation process. She notes that screenshots from messages that took place from months before the incident played a critical role in the investigation.
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