A New Brunswick construction supervisor who was sentenced to three years in prison for criminal negligence in the wastewater plant drowning death of an 18-year-old worker has lost his appeal of the conviction.
Jason King, who appeared before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal in January, worked for Springhill Construction in 2018, when he was the supervisor for Michael Henderson. Henderson drowned during a leak test for a new secondary clarifier at the Barker Street Treatment Facility in Fredericton.
Among other criticisms, King’s lawyer suggested that a judge during the New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench trial should never have allowed a key statement given to WorkSafeNB employees to be admitted into evidence.
Springhill Construction had faced a criminal charge of negligence causing death, but company officials instead pleaded guilty to a charge under New Brunswick’s Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide the necessary training, equipment and supervision to ensure an employee’s health and safety.
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The court ordered the company to donate $100,000 to establish a bursary in memory of Henderson.
During the original trial, the judge determined that King failed to inform 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 in the clarifier 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.
