Arctic Canada Construction Ltd.(ARCAN) recently took a guilty plea in the Territorial Court relating to an offence under the Safety Act.
On March 23rd, ARCAN representatives appeared in Yellowknife’s Courthouse, where they pleaded guilty to a single count that it “did fail to take all reasonable precautions and adopt and carry out all reasonable techniques and procedures, to ensure the health and safety of every person in its establishment”, in violation of the Safety Act.
They received a $20,000 fine, which will be paid to the Workers’ Protection Fund, in addition to a %15 Victim Fine Surcharge.
The incident that preceded this plea occurred in April of 2022, at a worksite in Fort Simpson. Two workers were using a telehandler with a man basket to maneuver a handrail for a staircase. The telehandler was equipped with outriggers for the purposes of stabilization, but they were not engaged. As the basket was raised, the telehandler became unbalanced and hit the ground. This caused injury to the worker who was thrown from the basket onto the ground.
ARCAN officially received seven charges in April of 2022. After taking this guilty plea, six of the charges have been dropped.
