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P.A.-area forestry worker rushed to hospital with "serious injuries": Parkland Ambulance

Dec 20, 2018 | 1:00 PM

battlefordsNOW has learned a worker at Aallcann Wood Suppliers Inc. was rushed to hospital Wednesday after getting his arm caught in a piece of machinery.

The Prince Albert Fire Department responded to the incident around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Deputy Fire Chief Alex Paul told battlefordsNOW the employee was conscious when they arrived.

“It was an employee working on a piece of equipment and he got his sleeve caught, which pulled him into a piece of operating machinery,” he said.

According to a social media post by the Prince Albert Fire Dept., crews were able to quickly detach the limb from a power-driven unit on a bark stripper. Parkland Ambulance then transported the 26-year-old man to hospital with severe injuries. He is currently at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon in stable condition.

 

 

A spokesperson for Occupational Health and Safety has confirmed they are investigating and indicated the investigation could take a long time. Aallcann Wood Suppliers is located about 20 kilometres east of Prince Albert, near the junction of Highway 55 and White Star Road. battlefordsNOW has reached out to senior management for comment. 

This incident is the second of its kind for the Regina-based company in a little more than three years. On Oct. 29, 2015, a worker was removing debris from a wood peeler and had several fingers severed after coming into contact with the rotating teeth. 

In August 2017, the company was fined $40,000, after pleading guilty to one occupational health and safety violation in relation to the incident — contravening subsection 139(1) by failing to ensure that before a worker undertakes the maintenance, repair, test or adjustment of a machine, the machine is locked out and remains locked out. Three additional charges were stayed in court. According to a spokesperson with the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, a company’s past record will not impact a current investigation, as each incident is inspected and reviewed on its own merits.

According to the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board (WCB), which keeps track of the numbers there was a total of 47 workplace fatalities in 2018. Paul Hallen, who serves as president of United Steel Workers 1-184 which represents workers in the Prince Albert area, ranging from forestry to manufacturing, told battlefordsNOW earlier this month that better enforcement needs to be part of the overall strategy to make workplaces safer.

 

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell