Village Fined $75,000 after Volunteer Fireman Dies During Training

Members of a village’s paid volunteer fire department were participating in ice water rescue training. They were told to swim out to a moving sheet of ice, climb it and ride it down the lake. One fireman was pushed by the ice floe under its surface and trapped for about four minutes. He was rescued but later died. An MOL investigation determined that there was no rescue equipment readily available to pull the worker onto shore. The village pleaded guilty, as an employer, to failing to ensure that adequate rescue equipment was available for the ice water rescue training exercise. The court fined it $75,000 [Corporation of the Village of Point Edward, Govt. News Release, March 6, 2012].