By Keith Lacey
The widow of a young Hanmer father electrocuted on the job 20 months ago said her husband was afraid he would be hurt on the job.
Yvon Lachance, 26, was killed after repositioning a ladder which came into direct contact with an overhead power line near Walden while Lachance was working for the contractor Sudbury contractor Consbec Inc. on Oct. 14, 2000.
Consbec Inc. was fined $175,000, plus a 25 per cent surcharge of $43,750, for a total fine of $218,750, Tuesday morning after pleading guilty to one count under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
A company representative pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the company took proper precautions to ensure a ladder would not get close to overhead power lines.
Three other charges were withdrawn.
?He knew this was going to happen, unfortunately it happened to him,? said Natalie Lachance, whose husband had been working for Consbec for two years at the time of his death.
?He was always complaining about the lack of safety on the job.?
She and Yvon were high school sweethearts having been together 10 years, the last two as husband and wife, and trying to continue on with her life as a single mother of two has been very difficult, she said. ?I just take it one day at a time, that?s about all you can do.?
The heavy fine doesn?t diminish the pain and suffering she and her family have endured and won?t bring back her husband and father of her two young children, she said. ?You can?t put a price on a human life,? she said.
It?s her hope Consbec will take this fine seriously and do everything possible to ensure another family doesn?t have to go through what she has over the past 20 months.
In an agreed statement of facts read into the court record by Ministry of Labour lawyer Bruce Arnott, it was revealed that in October 2000, Consbec Inc. had a contract to conduct drilling and blasting in a quarry in order to provide gravel to a Sudbury area construction project.
The project involved grading next to Highway 17, part of which was located close to the quarry. There were numerous telephone/hydro poles adjacent to the highway that supported several cables above ground.
The accident took place about nine kilometres west of the intersection of Highway 17 and Regional Road 55 in Walden.
The pole at that location supported a phone line about 13 feet above ground and a line for cable television about 15 feet above ground. There were also three hydro lines rated at 7,200 volts each.
These power lines were supported by a cross bar on the pole and the two outside lines were about 21 feet above ground with the middle line about a foot higher.
Sections of black plastic hose, known as weeping tile, had been placed over the phone and cable lines near the quarry to protect the lines from potential blast damage caused by flying rock. The weeping tile was slit along its length, and, therefore, could be removed from the cable by simply pulling it away.
On Oct. 14, 2000, the blasting in the quarry was complete and two workers, including Lachance, were required to remove the weeping tile.
They used an aluminum ladder to gain access to the weeping tile in order to pull it away. The ladder was extended to a length of 22 feet, three inches.
Just after 10 am, Lachance was repositioning the ladder on his own when it contacted one of the overhead power lines, said Arnott.
Lachance?s body absorbed a heavy dose of high-powered voltage and he was electrocuted.
He was transferred to St. Joseph?s Health Centre, where he was pronounced dead later that day.
Arnott also told the court Consbec had 55 employees at the time and had two previous convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including a 1994 conviction for failing to ensure that equipment was not brought closer than three metres to an overhead electrical power line. A worker was injured in that incident and Consbec was fined $25,000.
The other conviction, also in 1994, involved the company failing to provide sufficient blasting mats to prevent flying rock on a work site. The company was fined $10,000.
The guilty plea does indicate a demonstration of remorse and saves the cost of a week-long trial, said Arnott.
Lachance?s widow, her parents, Lachance?s mother and father and other siblings were in court for the sentencing hearing Tuesday.
?They have obviously suffered immensely,? said Arnott.
The heavy fine in no way places any price on Lachance?s death, but is the court?s way of handing out a penalty which will hopefully deter Consbec and other contractors from engaging in unsafe practices on the work site, said Arnott.
Justice of the peace Pierre Leclerc agreed to allow Consbec one year to pay the fine.
