News
Alberta Employer Fined in Calf-Roping Machine Fatality Case
Date: December 11, 2013
As we previously reported, an Alberta company was found liable by the Alberta Court of Appeal for failing to ensure the safety of its employees in the operation of a faulty calf-roping machine, rented from a third party for use at a client event. One of the employees was fatally struck by that malfunctioning machine.
In the recent sentencing decision, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench fined the company $275,000 (including victim surcharge). That Court held that the company should not have allowed its employees to operate equipment they knew nothing about and for which they had no training. Because of a prior mishap with the equipment before the fatal incident, the risks of operating the machine were foreseeable. The Court levied the fine in part to remind employers “to remain vigilant to safety issues in those “unexpected” circumstances where employees are operating outside of their “core” work functions.”
A discussion of the sentencing decision is found on our Case in Point blog post, “Calf-Roping Fatality Case Ends in $275,000 Fine.”
