Worker’s Electrocution Results on $85,000 Fine for Lumber Store

At a wood and lumber store, a worker used a boom crane operated by remote control to unload a delivery truck. The boom came in contact with an overhead power line, fatally electrocuting the worker. An MOL investigation found that there was no signaller to assist the worker. The store was convicted of failing to ensure that no object was brought within the specified safe distance from an overhead electrical conductor and that a competent worker designated as a signaller was in place to warn the operator if an object came within that distance. The court fined it $85,000 [Evans Lumber and Builders Supply Ltd., Govt. News Release, July 23, 2013].