Sawmill hasn’t paid WorkSafeNB fine yet
Hanson`s Sawmill & Affordable Cedar Log Homes Inc. rep asks for more time to pay $5,000
A Fredericton-area sawmill that was fined a year ago for trying to hide a workplace injury from the provincial occupational health and safety agency hasn’t paid a dime of it yet, a court noted Tuesday.
Jeff Hanson with Hanson`s Sawmill & Affordable Cedar Log Homes Inc., located on Killarney Road, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday for a default hearing.
The business was fined $5,000 in January 2023 for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act, namely for neglecting to notify WorkSafeNB, the province’s workplace-safety watchdog, that an employee was injured on the job, requiring hospitalization.
Concrete forms fell on the worker in question June 7, 2021, WorkSafeNB reports on its website, while doing work for the business at a private home.
“Two employees removed the forms overtop the employee, who was then placed in the back seat of a pickup truck and driven to hospital,” the agency states on its website.
“Once at the hospital, [the employee] was placed in a wheelchair and left in the emergency room lobby.”
The worker sustained multiple fractures that required surgery, and he was in hospital for more than a month, WorkSafeNB said.
“Hanson’s did not report the incident to WorkSafeNB and denied even having knowledge of it,” the report on the agency’s website stated.
“However, WorkSafeNB investigators were able to corroborate enough facts to verify that the accident did happen and that the company was aware of it.”
Duty counsel Edward Derrah told court Tuesday the business has had a difficult time as of late, noting it’s been having trouble getting the wood it needs to continue with projects.
“So nothing’s been paid on the fine,” Judge Mary Jane Richards said when reviewing the court file.
“I was hoping [to have it paid] by the end of August,” Jeff Hanson told the court.
Derrah said Hanson believes he can pay $500 a month until the fine is paid, including an initial such payment Tuesday.
Richards extended the time for payment to Jan. 29, 2025.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.