WorkSafeNB should be more proactive - jury
Workplace-safety watchdog agency is subject of multiple recommendations arising out of coroner’s inquest into death of construction worker Preston Allen, 34, in December 2021
A jury empanelled for a coroner’s inquest into the death of a worker at a Fredericton construction site in late 2021 offered recommendations aimed at improving WorkSafeNB performance.
The inquest into the death of Preston Allen, 34 - who sustained a fatal head injury in a fall at the site of a home under construction in Fredericton on Dec. 6, 2021 - was held at the University of New Brunswick Law School on Monday and Tuesday.
The Department of Justice and Public Safety, in a news release issued Wednesday, said a five-member jury heard evidence from six witnesses regarding the incident, and it deemed Allen’s death to be accidental.
The jury also issued several recommendations aimed at improving worker safety on construction sites.
All recommendations focused on what WorkSafeNB, the province’s workplace-safety monitoring and enforcement agency, can do to improve its effectiveness at such job sites.
The jurors called on WorkSafeNB to ensure it has enough inspectors dedicated to checking on work in the construction sector, to conduct a minimum number of random and unannounced site inspections and to access building-permit data to identify targets for such inspections.
The inquest jury also urged the agency to do more to educate employers and to offer them safety-consulting services, and to establish partnerships with construction industry safety organizations to develop and offer online education for employers and workers alike, notably in the area of scaffolding erection.
Allen died from a fall from scaffolding at the site of a home under construction on Brighton Court in Fredericton on Dec. 6, 2021, during a snowy, inclement day.
The inquest jury’s recommendations aren’t binding, and the proceeding isn’t intended to determine any kind of criminal or civil liability.
The fatal incident was also the subject of a quasi-criminal proceeding in Fredericton provincial court, as WorkSafeNB investigated Allen’s death. That led to Occupational Health and Safety Act charges being laid against Allen’s employer, New View Designs by Laurie Cole Inc. of Fredericton.
The company eventually pleaded guilty last year to failing to provide safety instructions to protect Allen’s health and well-being.
At sentencing in that case, court heard that Allen, a Red Seal carpenter who was acting as the project lead and supervisor, was working alone on the scaffolding at the time in stormy weather, while other workers were tending to things inside the home.
Another labourer was handing off construction materials to Allen through a window from inside the structure, and Allen fell while the other worker wasn’t looking.
The other worker heard Allen yell and then saw him lying on the ground, court heard.
The victim was rushed to hospital but died there as a result of his injuries.
A WorkSafeNB inspection revealed several deficiencies on the construction site, such as missing guardrails on the scaffolding, missing connectors, a failure to install all pieces of the scaffolding and an insufficiency of plastic fasteners to keep it anchored to the home.
The investigation also revealed New View Designs’ training and orientation processes for new hires were subpar, and the company couldn’t provide proper training documentation.
The firm was fined $30,000.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.