CONSORT, Alta. — A 63-year-old man has died from injuries he received in a propane tank explosion on an east-central Alberta farm.
Mounties say the man, who lived on the rural property near Consort, had been operating a propane-fired torch. RCMP said Tuesday he died “as a result of injuries suffered when a propane tank exploded.”
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A spokesperson for STARS says the air-ambulance service was called to the scene just before noon on Sunday.
The helicopter was told to “stand down” because it wasn’t medically required to transport the patient.
Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson said Alberta’s new farm safety legislation, which came into effect Friday, doesn’t apply in the death.
“The man who died was the owner of the farm,” she said in an email. “Because of that, this incident is exempt from the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act.”
There were no other workers or hired hands on the farm, Sigurdson said.
The farm safety act was passed in December after a couple of tumultuous weeks in which farmers protested at the legislature and at public meetings across the province. They said the law, which mandates workers’ compensation benefits for paid farm workers, will destroy farm profitability by burying operators in reams of paperwork.
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Others worry the rules will prevent moms and dads from passing the farm culture on to their children.
The act also puts farms under occupational health and safety regulations.
The legislation applies only to paid farm workers. Family members, paid or unpaid, are exempt.
With files from CKGY
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