A trial is underway for two companies facing liability charges stemming from the death of a construction worker at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital job site in July 2016.
Banff Constructors Ltd. and Pilosio Canada Inc. have both been charged in 21-year-old Eric Ndayishimiye’s death.
Banff Constructors is charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act with failing to make arrangements for the use, handling, and transport of trolleys in a manner that protects the health and safety of workers.
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The second charge relates to failing to provide any necessary information, instruction, training and supervision resulting in the death of a worker.
Alberta-based supplier Pilosio Canada is charged under the Saskatchewan Employment Act with failing to ensure equipment supplied to any owner, contractor, employer or worker is safe.
An agreed statement of facts indicates Ndayishimiye was working on the ground floor of the hospital on July 21, 2016, when a table cart fell on him.
He was taken to Royal University Hospital (RUH) in Saskatoon but pronounced dead minutes later. The coroner determined he sustained “multiple blunt force injuries to the chest, neck and head,” according to the statement.
Equipment was supplied by Pilosio Canada to the prime contractor, Graham Construction, for the new hospital.
Ndayishimiye was employed by Saskatoon-based Banff Constructors during his almost six months on the job.
On day one of the trial, the occupational health and safety (OHS) officer first on the scene after the workplace death described what he encountered following the fatal incident.
Court also heard an interview he conducted with a distraught witness.
The trial is scheduled to last three weeks with a number of witnesses expected to testify.
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