SaskPower to pay $840,000 after workers die in fall from bucket truck

SaskPower has been hit with fines and surcharges adding up to $840,000 after being found guilty of violating the province’s occupational health and safety regulations.

According to Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, the Crown corporation was sentenced on October 18 in connection with an incident that took place in Weyburn on Oct. 8, 2020.

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Two workers — Scott Bill and Cole Crooks — were fatally injured on that day when they fell to the ground from the bucket of a bucket truck.

The company was found to have violated three clauses of the provincial regulations related to providing a safe working environment, safety information, instruction or supervision, and fall-arrest systems.

“As a result, the Court imposed a fine of $300,000 with a surcharge of $120,000 on the first count and $150,000 on each of the other two counts with a surcharge of $60,000 on each of those charges, for a total amount of $840,000,” the ministry said in a statement.

At the time of the incident in 2020, Mike Marsh, then serving as SaskPower’s CEO, issued a statement sharing his sympathies with the friends, relatives and colleagues of Crooks and Bill.

“This terrible loss of members of our SaskPower family and of the Weyburn community is deeply felt by us all. On behalf of the entire Executive team and Board of Directors at SaskPower, our heartfelt condolences and sincere sympathies go out to their families, friends and to all their co-workers in this difficult time,” Marsh said in a statement.