Shane had big dreams of raising a family with his wife, but it all changed in the blink of an eye.
He was perched on a ladder at work trying to fix a florescent light in the ceiling above him when the ladder that was holding him in place collapsed. It sent him hurtling to the concrete floor 50 feet beneath him and he succumbed to his injuries an hour later in hospital.
He didn’t take the proper safety precautions before he went up the ladder.
It could have been a whole different day for him if he had.
His wife is devastated. She doesn’t know how she’s going to go on or explain what happened to her small children who are reeling from the loss.
This isn’t a pretty picture by any means, but it’s a reality when it comes to the workplace in this province and many of the incidents, whether it be a tragedy like Shane’s case or a lost-time incident, could have been prevented if safety was foremost on people’s minds.
The Forestry Safety Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the leadership of executive director Dion Newman, will address concerns with safety in the workplace at its annual health and safety conference April 11 at the Corner Brook Civic Centre.
In this province, statistics reveal, according to Newman, that there are 15 workers injured during every 24-hour period and that’s something he believes is alarming.
Luckily, some of these people only require first-aid and others just miss a bit of time at work, but it’s cases like Shane’s that really cause heartache and show the human cost of an accident in the workplace.
The Corner Brook native believes every effort has to be made to make things safer on the job site and it means everybody with a vested interest playing a role in making it happen.
He hopes that message gets driven home during the conference, which will feature a number of key presenters talking about the importance of safety and sharing their own experiences or providing insight into what can be done to improve the safety practices in place now.
“People need to realize that no matter what job they’re doing or what task they’re doing that they need keep safety in mind at all times because the simplest little thing can actually end up causing a severe injury or worst,” Newman said.
