City admits guilt in death of dump truck driver
The City of Edmonton pleaded guilty Monday to an Occupational Health and Safety charge related to the death of an employee who was buried beneath a load of street sweepings.
Initially, the city had elected to go to trial on five charges related to the 2015 death of Stephen Penny, 35.
But Monday, the city admitted to one count of failing to take all reasonable steps to ensure, where a worker may be injured if material is dislodged, moved or spilled, that the material was contained, restrained or protected to eliminate the potential danger.
Provincial court Judge D’Arcy DePoe accepted a joint sentencing submission for a $300,000 fine, most of which will fund a safety training program for truck drivers being developed by the Alberta Motor Transport Association.
“It’s been a long road,” Stephen Penny’s father, Glen Penny, said outside court. “We couldn’t have hoped for much more. We’re just glad it’s finally over.”
According to an agreed statement of facts entered with the court by prosecutor Craig Kallal, Stephen Penny drove a dump truck to the city ’s Kennedale Storage Yard on the night of April 22, 2015. At some point, he exited his truck and ended up beneath its load of street sweepings.
He was taken off life support on April 28, 2015.
Court heard the dump truck end gate latches were operated by an air pressure system. When the driver flipped a switch in the cab, if there was between 80 psi and 120 psi, the latches would open. If there was less than 60 psi, an alarm would sound and the latches would not open.
But if the air pressure was between 60 psi and 80 psi, no alarm would sound but the latches would stay closed. An inspection of the truck revealed leaks in its air system, which could have hampered its ability to regain pressure. Court also heard truck drivers were not told how the end gate latches worked.
In the wake of Penny’s death, the city’s lawyer, David Myrol, said remedial action was taken quickly, including fixing the issue with the switches.
City manager Linda Cochrane and several other city officials were in court Monday.
After the hearing, Cochrane shook hands with the deceased man’s parents, hugging his mother, Debbie Penny.
The mother said she asked Cochrane to consider being more compassionate toward families of injured or killed workers.
Cochrane declined to comment, and the city released a brief statement Monday evening acknowledging Stephen Penny’s death.
The city also pleaded guilty Monday to one count failing to ensure a vehicle traffic was controlled to protect workers at a site where a woman’s arm was amputated after it became pinned between a frontend loader and a truck. Sentencing in that case is expected to be finalized Tuesday.
It’s been a long road ... We couldn’t have hoped for much more. We’re just glad it’s finally over.