The provincial Labour Department has laid workplace safety charges against two companies in connection with a fatal mishap on a garbage truck in the Annapolis Valley last year.
A 21-year-old employee of EFR Disposal Ltd. died after he was crushed in the back of a garbage truck in Port Williams on May 10, 2018.
The young man was a member of a three-person crew that was collecting large items from the roadside in Kings County as part of a twice-a-year cleanup.
A second worker was also hurt in the incident, which happened on Rawding Drive.
Royal Environmental Inc., operating as RE Group, and EFR Disposal Ltd., operating as EFR Environmental, will be arraigned in Kentville provincial court next week on four charges each under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Court documents indicate RE Group is the parent company of EFR Environmental.
Both companies are charged with failing to ensure that an access door was fitted with interlocks to prevent it from opening while moving parts were in motion, failing to ensure access doors were equipped with interlock devices before any work was undertaken, failing to provide and maintain equipment with proper safety devices, and failing to take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of employees.
The charges were sworn by a Labour Department investigator last week.
