24 October 2008
CP Blamed in Death of Alberta Worker Killed by Falling Ice
Edmonton Alberta - Canadian Pacific did not properly
train an Alberta maintenance man killed by ice he pried from inside the MacDonald tunnel in British Columbia, a court has found.
Robert Martin, 44, died when a 225-kilogram ice chunk fell on him 14 Dec 2005.
It was the first time Martin and his co-worker, Adam Williams, had removed ice in the tunnel, located between Revelstoke
and Golden in eastern British Columbia.
Martin was a resident of Bowden, Alta. His usual job was to clear the tracks of snow.
The ice in the tunnel grew in columns, obstructing the passage of trains. Removing it required a metre-long steel bar and
a pickaxe.
The men chipped away at the ice and dodged pieces when they fell.
After about an hour's work, they encountered a particularly large column - about five metres high and one metre wide.
Martin and Williams chipped away at it, and chunks began to break loose.
A 225-kilogram piece fell on Martin.
A B.C. provincial court in June found Martin and Williams received no instructions that December day on how to remove ice from a
railway tunnel and issued a $250,000 fine.
"The crew approached their task for the day armed with hand tools, their physical strength, and their common sense augmented by
whatever training they had prior to 14 Dec 2005," Justice Douglas Allan Betton wrote in his decision.
The judge noted that ice removal could be a relatively simple task, but the job becomes "more complex and highly dangerous"
when workers must take down an ice column that stands five metres high.
The judge dismissed charges that Canadian Pacific failed to ensure the workers were aware of work site safety hazards.
A representative from the union that represented Martin said the $250,000 fine was not enough.
"I don't think they'll learn from it," said Bill Brehl, Teamsters Canada maintenance employees union president.
"Canadian Pacific has a safety plan that on paper is second to none. It's very good. There's a lot of time and effort put into
developing it. The problem is, for it to work, it has to be followed, and it has to be followed consistently, and they don't do
that."
After Martin's death, Canadian Pacific formalized a risk-assessment process for workers tackling ice removal inside
tunnels, said spokeswoman Breanne Feigel. The company also implemented guidelines on how ice should be removed, depending on the
height of an ice column.
"Before the court trial was completed, CP (had) already responded to the incident by implementing additional enhancements to make
work conditions safer," Feigel said. "We don't want to see an incident like that occur again."
The company will not appeal the decision.
Martin had worked for Canadian Pacific for almost 20 years when he died. His wife, Tana, said her husband liked working for the
company but often voiced safety concerns about the job. A former roommate of the couple had also died while working for the company,
she said.
Tana, who had been married to Martin for 14 years, said her husband was loving, kind, and generous.
"The loss of my husband has been, emotionally and financially, just devastating," she said.
She said she has not ruled out legal action to recover some of the $250,000 fine imposed on her husband's
employer.
|
