Jake Gordon, 24, died after being electrocuted while working as part of a crew operating a hydrovac truck at a construction site on Hwy. 7 in Thornhill
Two Stouffville companies have been fined two years after a worker from Georgina was electrocuted at a job site in Thornhill and later died in hospital.
PGC Services Inc., a Gormley company that provides hydro vacuum excavation to the construction and utilities industries, and K-Line Maintenance and Construction Limited, a Stouffville company that provides services for overhead distribution lines, were fined a total of $285,000 in a Newmarket court Feb. 15, the Ministry of Labour said in a news release.
Jake Gordon, 24, of Georgina, was killed Nov. 24, 2015 when a truck’s boom came in contact with live overhead electrical lines at a K-Line construction project on the north side of Hwy. 7, east of Dufferin Street.
Work crews were preparing equipment for an excavation, but no one was monitoring the movement of the truck’s hydrovac boom arms in order to ensure the operator did not come within three metres of the overhead electrical wires, the ministry said.
As one worker was pulling a dig tube out of a truck, one or more toggles on the remote control of a boom arm got caught on a body part or piece of clothing, the ministry said.
The movement caused the arm to come in contact with the wires, sending a current through the truck and electrocuting Gordon, who was on the passenger side of the truck, the ministry said.
PGC pleaded guilty to violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure no object was brought closer than three metres to the overhead electrical lines, the ministry said. K-Line, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a designated signaller was in place to warn the operator each time any part of the vehicle or equipment approached three metres of the electrical lines.
Following guilty pleas, K-Line was fined $160,000 and PGC was fined $125,000.
At a vigil in Keswick just days after Gordon’s death, the 24-year-old was remembered as a smart, mechancially inclined young man who could make his friends laugh.
“He was such a kind-hearted genuine soul that just was radiating with love for anyone and everyone he met,” said Melissa Pinco.
With files by Heidi Riedner
by Lisa Queen
Lisa Queen is a reporter for YorkRegion.com and its sister papers. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and YorkRegion.com on Facebook.
Email: [email protected] Facebook Twitter