A worker at Winnipeg’s water treatment plant has died on the job.
RCMP said officers were called to the plant on PR 207 around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
According to the RCMP, the employee was working on equipment on top of a large chemical storage tank when he fell to the ground.
The 58-year-old man from Winnipeg was pronounced dead at the scene.
Councillor Brian Mayes noted the death ahead of Wednesday’s Water and Waste Committee meeting.
“We’re going to take a moment of silence today to mark the fact that we had a fatal workplace accident yesterday at the Winnipeg water treatment plant,” Mayes said.
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A city spokesperson confirmed that the death happened Tuesday morning.
“We are working very closely with Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health and the RCMP,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Our thoughts and condolences are first and foremost with the employee’s loved ones and friends. As you can appreciate, this is a difficult time for all Water and Waste employees, and we are ensuring that support is available to them.”
“Out of respect for our colleague, flags will be lowered at all City buildings to half-mast.”
The employee was a member of CUPE Local 500. In a statement, Local 500 union president Gord Delbridge said they were deeply saddened by the news of the death of one of its members.
“Our members come to work every day and expect to come home at the end of their shift,” Delbridge said. “Tragedies like this shouldn’t happen.”
The treatment plant at Deacon Reservoir opened in 2009 and can treat 400 million litres of water per day, according to the city’s website. The facility in the RM of Springfield cost $300 million.
It was also the subject of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against contractors that was tossed out because a city lawyer missed a deadline, costing the lawyer their job.