Contractor employee fatally injured at Manitoba Hydro site

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This article was published 18/01/2018 (3131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An employee of a contractor working for Manitoba Hydro near the northern community of Gillam was killed on the job Wednesday.

The 22-year-old man was struck in the head on a job site near the Nelson River and could not be saved, Manitoba Hydro, his employer and the RCMP said in series of statements yesterday.

The victim is from Lake Manitoba First Nation. Authorities said they have notified the family.

Manitoba Hydro contractor Forbes Brothers Ltd issued a statement almost immediately after the the death was announced Thursday describing the man as a long-time employee who will be deeply mourned.

“We are in close contact with his immediate family, some who have worked with us, and offered our deepest sympathies. Support to the family and Forbes employees is being offered through a combination of services provided by Forbes, Manitoba Hydro and union representatives,” the statement said.

Manitoba Hydro President and CEO Kelvin Shepherd said their thoughts were with the man’s family.

“This is a very sad and tragic incident. Counselling has been made available to all contractor and Manitoba Hydro employees who were on site at the time of the accident,” Shepherd said in a statement.

The province’s Workplace Health and Safety Board is collaborating with the RCMP in its investigation, as well as launching their own with the co-operation of the contractor and the utility, under the provincial labour regulations.

RCMP said their initial investigation determined the man was securing metal sheets on a flatbed truck when two of the 4 1/2-metre sheets shifted in his direction and struck his head.

The injured worker was rushed to hospital and died shortly after despite the efforts of his colleagues on the site and the nurses and doctors in Gillam, his employer said.

Forbes Brothers is building the transmission line that will carry power from the Keeyask Generating Station, now under construction, to the existing Radisson Converter Station just outside of Gillam. The accident took place at a marshaling yard located about 45 kilometres from Gillam, near the Limestone Generating Station on the lower Nelson River.

Gillam is located about 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg.