A construction supervisor has been found guilty of criminal negligence in relation to an 18-year-old who drowned during a leak test for a new secondary clarifier at Fredericton’s Barker Street Treatment Facility in 2018.
The three-week Court of King’s Bench judge trial in New Brunswick was decided by Justice Thomas Christie, who will sentence Springhill Construction supervisor Jason King on September 11.
The judge indicated that King failed to inform Michael Henderson of a planned leak test to determine if the clarifier was watertight. A plug failed during the test and allowed water to rush into the bottom of the eight-feet-deep, four-feet-wide hole where Henderson worked. King had been filling an adjacent manhole connected by pipe to the clarifier with water. The large inflatable water plug had come out and pinned him against the wall of the concrete hole.
Site workers, including Henderson’s own brother, attempted to rescue him.
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Henderson had graduated from Fredericton High School earlier that year, and had played on the football team.
During the trial, Crown prosecutor Christopher Lavigne questioned King about his safety knowledge and preparation since his promotion to supervisor in 2016.
“I’m not a reader,” King told the court, as reported by CBC News.
Moments before announcing his verdict, Justice Christie said he found it “difficult to understand” King’s lack of attention to safety requirements and was “nowhere close to what was minimally required of him.”
Following the verdict, the United Steelworkers Union issued a statement that it was “gratified” with the guilty verdict. The union said King had failed to read any of the company’s safety manuals or the manual setting out his duties and responsibilities as a supervisor; failed to follow safety directions from the plug’s manufacturer; and failed to comply with the legislative requirements for confined-space work.
King faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Springhill Construction, King and the City of Fredericton were all initially charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The safety charges were dropped once criminal charges were filed against King.
The additional secondary clarifier project work was part of the Phase III upgrades at the Barker Street Treatment Facility, which also included UV disinfection and headworks infrastructure upgrades. The plant treats 95% of the area’s wastewater, with the remaining 5% treated at two lagoons.
While I recognize that the defendant was negligent, it boggles my mind that the company that employed him had no formal safety training program that ensured the supervisors had an understanding of the safety policies and the safety manual. Essentially they had allowed an unqualified individual to remain in a supervisory role with no proof that he knew any of his responsibilities under the law. The employer in this case has thrown the supervisor under the bus while they skate away Scot-free. In my mind, the company was equally culpable. They had a duty to ensure that their supervisors were trained in and understood their safety responsibilities.