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While a sentence has been issued and SaskPower will be forced to pay fines totaling $700,000 for his workplace accident, Blayne McKay, his family and friends are not satisfied with the results of the Oct. 31 court proceedings that led to the decision.
McKay has been in a legal battle with the Crown corporation since he woke up from a medically-induced coma following a workplace incident on May 9, 2022 that saw McKay survive a shock from 110,000 volts of electricity and being set on fire as a result.
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Frustrated after the sentencing, McKay shared his thoughts on how they would like to move forward with more potential legal action, but they no longer have a leg to stand on.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of lawyers. There’s nothing I can do, and it’s already over two years. I think that’s why they make the court case last so long. So it’s two years, then you can’t do anything over two years, and plus I’m on WCB (worker’s compensation),” he said.
“No lawyer will even touch anything as soon as you say you’re on WCB. So WCB is kind of like a scam to protect the employers, it doesn’t protect the workers at all.”
Power arc set worker on fire
McKay was working for Flatlanders Scaffolding, who had been contracted to build scaffolding for repairs at the Island Falls Hydroelectric Station near Sandy Bay.
While they were taking the scaffolding down, a supervisor at the power station asked McKay and his coworker to look at another area to survey for an upcoming project that needed scaffolding. The supervisor left the scene to find out more information with no other instructions than “don’t touch anything”, and McKay began measuring the area.
When he stuck his measuring tape in the air, the power arced to the measuring tape and McKay was struck, setting him on fire. McKay lost 65 per cent of his skin and has gone through multiple skin grafting and physiotherapy sessions to recover as best he can, but he’ll never be able to work the same way he did before.
SaskPower pleaded guilty to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. As a result, SaskPower is being hit with a $500,000 fine along with a $200,000 surcharge, but none of that money is going to McKay or his family.
The money is going from SaskPower, a Crown corporation, to the Saskatchewan Government.
“I don’t get any of it, so it’s not really benefitting me in any way. I don’t get anything because I’m on WCB, I’m not eligible to apply for any kind of money. That surcharge goes to the government, same place as the other $500,000.”
Family regrets accepting worker’s compensation
During McKay’s coma, his wife Jackie Thoms was approached to sign a waiver with Workers Compensation Board (WCB) that would get her husband monetary assistance for his recovery, but they had no idea how little that would cover.
Because they decided to accept worker’s compensation, McKay is unable to sue anyone for his accident and has to accept the situation. However, both he and his wife feel they were not properly educated on what WCB would actually cover.
“I think maybe people should know that as soon as you accept WCB, you’re not eligible for anything. No more. Can’t sue anybody. I should be able to sue these guys for this, but I’m not allowed to because I accepted WCB and I don’t get any of that surcharge because WCB pays for all my medical trips and everything, but they don’t pay for nothing else on me.
“I guess I’m going to get $45,000 or something like that for all the scarring on my body because that’s the maximum they pay. I don’t think that’s really worth it, $45,000 for 60 per cent of my body being burnt and skin grafted, so it’s kind of disappointing.”
Thoms has been working closely with WCB over the last two years to make sure her husband gets the financial support he needs to cover travel expenses for his medical treatments, but she’s found that she has to jump through hoops to get that money. Not only that, but she says that a lot of the policies put in place by WCB are outdated and don’t suit her husband’s needs.
WCB policies ‘old and outdated’
“A lot of their policies I find are very old and outdated, and what else I found I’ve found with WCB — I’ve been working with them very closely for the last two years — everybody’s in a bubble. Whether you broke your ankle or you got severely injured like (Blayne), everything’s the same. You get five massages. Period. Doesn’t matter what happened to you.” Thomas continued.
“But if you slipped and tweaked your back, were off work for two weeks, fine. Five massages is probably all you need. So I’d like to see them to be more individualized to the actual person’s injuries, not just everybody gets the same thing.”
The McKay family plans to continue advocating for changes to the rules of WCB and not only because the accident had a heavy effect on his McKay’s life, but it’s also impacted Flatlander’s Scaffolding. All businesses in Saskatchewan pay into WCB for insurance to their employees, and the rate they pay depends on a number of factors, including how often accidents take place at their place of work.
Since McKay was working for Flatlanders Scaffolding doing contract work for SaskPower, McKay’s burn incident was put on to Flatlander’s Scaffolding’s insurance file, which is the company’s only workplace incident in their history, but has brought their insurance premiums up by 300 per cent.
The last time paNOW spoke with McKay, he had high hopes that SaskPower would do more to train their supervisors in dealing with contractors to make sure incidents like this don’t happen again, and he hopes they consider him for a role where he can help in that training.
“It would be nice to get something out of this, but SaskPower did reach out to me and they say by next week they’re going to have something drawn up to talk to me about. So we’ll see what happens.”
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