WorkSafeBC says an industrial camp operator wasn’t following provincial health orders in December 2021 when a worker was found dead from COVID-19 inside their room one morning.
The workers’ compensation board fined Alberta-based Horizon North Camps & Catering Partnership $206,346 last September, according to a public report released last week.
An incident investigation report shared with Black Press Media reveals the worker was living at the company’s Sanaata Lodge, located about 45 kilometres west of Dawson Creek, when he first reported feeling ill on Dec. 7, 2021. He wasn’t instructed to isolate until four days later and didn’t have a COVID-19 test done until the fifth day of his sickness. The following morning, on Dec. 13, he was found lying dead in his bed by a coworker and supervisor.
WorkSafeBC says its investigation found that while the camp and catering company had a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention plan in place at the time of the worker’s death, the policies and procedures were not being followed. For instance, they were not providing daily temperature checks for workers or asking them about any possible COVID symptoms. Facilities were also not being cleaned as regularly as required and communal washrooms, lounge areas and eating quarters meant workers were in close contact with each other.
WorkSafeBC says it later found there was in fact a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the work camp, although no one else died. They couldn’t determine exactly when or where the deceased worker contracted the virus, but said the lack of proper safety measures at Sanaata Lodge made it likely he caught it there.
WorkSafeBC says Horizon North Camps & Catering Partnership implemented a series of new safety measures following the worker’s death. Personal details about the worker were not revealed, but WorkSafeBC says he had travelled to the work camp from Edmonton.
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