New Brunswick man charged for workplace fatality

A New Brunswick man has been charged following a tragic workplace fatality, underscoring the critical responsibilities that employers and supervisors bear under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

Keven Fontaine, 32, of MacDonald Avenue, appeared in Fredericton provincial court this week to face three charges stemming from the death of Roger Roy, a worker he had hired to assist with lowering and levelling a mobile home last November, according to a report from the Fredericton Independent.

The incident occurred on Nov. 16, 2024, when Roy was fatally injured while working on the mobile-home project.

The Fredericton Independent reports that Fontaine is specifically accused of not alerting WorkSafe NB “immediately that worker Roger Roy suffered an injury on the job resulting in his death,” a critical requirement under the Act.

Other charges include failure to take every reasonable precaution to ensure a worker’s health and safety, and failure to ensure the safety of any person with access to the jobsite.

Employer responsibilities under the Act

Employers’ responsibilities under the OHSA include:

1. Take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of your employees.
2. Comply with the OHS Act and regulations, and any order made in accordance with them.
3. Ensure that your employees comply with the Act and regulations, and any order made in accordance with them.
4. Ensure that at the place of employment, the necessary systems of work, tools, equipment, machines, devices, and materials are maintained in good condition and are of minimum risk to health and safety when used as directed by the supplier or in accordance with the directions supplied by the supplier.
5. Acquaint an employee with any hazard to be found at the place of employment in connection with the use, handling, storage, disposal, and transport of any tool, equipment, machine, device, or biological, chemical, or physical agent.
6. Provide such information, instruction, training, and supervision as are necessary to ensure an employee's health and safety.
7. Ensure that work at the place of employment is competently supervised and that supervisors have sufficient knowledge of all of the following with respect to matters that are within the scope of the supervisor’s duties:
   • The OHS Act and regulations under this Act that apply to the place of employment;
   • Any safety policy for the place of employment;
   • Any health and safety program for the place of employment;
   • Any health and safety procedures with respect to hazards in connection with the use, handling, storage, disposal, and transport of any tool, equipment, machine, device, or biological, chemical, or physical agent by employees who work under the supervisor’s supervision and direction;
   • Any protective equipment required to ensure the health and safety of the employees who work under the supervisor’s supervision and direction; and
   • Any other matters that are necessary to ensure the health and safety of the employees who work under the supervisor’s supervision and direction.
8. Ensure that work at the place of employment is sufficiently supervised.
9. Provide and maintain in good condition such protective equipment as is required by regulation and ensure that such equipment is used by an employee in the course of work.
10. Co-operate with a committee, where such a committee has been established, a health and safety representative, where such a representative has been elected, and with any person responsible for the enforcement of this Act and the regulations.
11. Post a copy of the OHS Act and regulations in a prominent place where workers can see them.
12. Draft and implement policies and procedures which become the safety program in the workplace.
13. If the employer has 20 or more employees regularly employed in New Brunswick, the company must establish a safety policy and a health and safety program. If the employer has 20 or more employees regularly employed in a workplace, a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) must be formed.