EDMONTON – A 21-year-old man was killed on March 14 while operating a track hoe on a work site north of Fort McMurray.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) says he was operating a track hoe on some ice at the bottom of an open pit when the track hoe fell through the ice into the water.
The incident happened around 4 p.m. on March 14, two hours north of Fort McMurray on the East Athabasca Highway, a privately owned road that provides access to Suncor’s Firebag in situ site north of Fort McMurray, as well as Imperial Oil’s Kearl site, and Husky Energy’s Sunrise site.
A spokesperson for Suncor says the man was an employee of Brayford Trucking, a Leduc-based company, who was doing reclamation work on the highway for Suncor as an operator.
Brayford Trucking confirmed the man killed was 21-year-old Jordan Gahan.
Gahan was from Fredericton, New Brunswick.
A spokesperson for Brayford Trucking said the company “is a small, close community” and wants to express their “thoughts and prayers for Jordan’s family.”
The family tells Global News they were notified on Friday.
“Even though he was my younger brother I looked up to him,” said his brother Joshua.
“He was a role model. Not only the best brother anyone could ask for, but a great friend.”
“I miss him tremendously,” Joshua added.
“He lived his life everyday and I am so fortunate I have 21 years of memories that no one can take from me. My family is going to stick together and get through this as best we can.”
A stop-work order has been put in place and OHS is investigating.
In January, a Suncor employee was found dead at the company’s oilsands site in Fort McMurray.
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