Province fined $100K after 2022 death of Manitoba Wildfire Service worker in ATV crash | CBC News
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A Manitoba provincial department has been fined $100,000 after one of its workers died on the job in 2022.
A provincial court judge in The Pas delivered that decision against the Department of Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Friday in the death of 23-year-old Riley Manych, who died following an all-terrain vehicle accident near Grace Lake fire base, close to The Pas, in July 2022.
Manych was working for Manitoba’s Wildfire Service at the time.
In an agreed-upon statement of facts, the court heard that Manych and three other workers had been doing work on ATVs so they could be used for a training exercise the next day. The four then test-drove the vehicles, and some got stuck in the mud.
One vehicle was freed using a winch mounted to another vehicle, but the battery died while freeing the second one.
The court heard when Manych went to get a battery booster, his vehicle rolled, seriously injuring him.
He was taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital in The Pas for treatment, then flown to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, where he was taken off life support the next day.
Court heard that the workers on the vehicles were wearing hard hats, not specialized helmets. Prosecution attorney Danny Gunn said the hard hats were, for a time, considered acceptable personal protective equipment for workers on ATVs, but an exemption that allowed that had expired before the accident.
A provincial government lawyer said the department would plead guilty to three charges — not adequately training, not adequately supervising and not providing appropriate helmets to employees.
The department was assessed three separate fines — $40,000 on each of the first two charges and $20,000 for the third.
A fourth charge was stayed.
In his ruling, Judge Todd Rambow said the fact Manych was still considered a young worker under provincial labour law played a factor in the penalty.
According to the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba, a young worker is anyone between the ages of 15 and 24.
The department will have up to one year to pay the fine.
In victim impact statements, family members and friends of Manych said he was a kind person who cared about nature and animals.
A member of The Pas Fire Department, Manych had saved a cat from a burning home just days before his death, court heard.