Employer Fined Over Death of Waterhen Lake Man

Employer Fined Over Death of Waterhen Lake Man

Wednesday, December 03, 2003 at 14:20

A Meadow Lake area contractor has been fined by Occupational Health and Safety following the death of a Waterhen Lake man on the job site.

Lawrence Matvenko has been convicted of failing to ensure the safety of a worker and failing to provide a safe working environment.

Matvenko was also found guilty of endangering a worker by moving powered mobile equipment and failing to ensure that a lifting device was designed and operated to safely perform the task for which it was being used.

In August 2001, a day labourer employed by Matvenko, 33-year-old David Cardinal, was fatally injured when he was crushed between the bucket of a bobcat and an adjacent wall while holding a splashboard to guide cement being poured from the bucket.

Matvenko has been fined a total of 23-thousand dollars for the infractions.

The maximum penalty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for an offence that causes the death of a worker is 300-thousand dollars and two years in jail.