Food-truck explosion leads to safety charges
Ginger Beef owner Trevor Smith denies Occupational Health and Safety Act counts
The owner of a popular Fredericton food truck has denied allegations of workplace safety violations stemming from an explosion earlier this year that saw an employee seriously burned.
Trevor Smith, 56, of MacLeod Hill Road, pleaded not guilty in Fredericton provincial court Monday to two charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The charges, laid by WorkSafeNB, allege that between March 20-23, while doing business as Ginger Beef, Smith failed to take all reasonable precautions to ensure an employee’s safety by removing a stove from an accredited gas filter and that did so as well by failing to ensure a propane line was capped.
Smith appeared without defence counsel Monday, representing himself.
A spokesperson for WorkSafeNB, the province’s workplace-safety watchdog agency, said the charges arose after a food-truck worker was hurt on the job.
“The Ginger Beef food truck was parked at a residence so a worker could prepare it for an upcoming event,” WorkSafeNB corporate communications director Laragh Dooley wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent on Monday.
“The employee tried to light one of the propane burners, not knowing that the owner had removed a propane stove and the propane line was not capped, allowing for the release of propane. After trying several times to light the burner, the gas in the truck exploded, resulting in the worker sustaining first-degree burns.”
Crown prosecutor Kathleen Jacobs told court Monday she estimated about a day would be needed for trial, and Judge Scott Brittain explained to Smith that under current policy in Fredericton provincial court, any expectation of a trial lasting more than half a day triggers a case-management conference to determine if the parties can narrow the issues to be examined through testimony.
The judge scheduled that case-management conference for Dec. 21, and a trial date will be set at that time.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.