Province records second worker death in less than a week
A 55-year-old worker is dead after the skid steer he was operating backed into a deep excavation on a construction site east of Hamiota, Man.
Yellowhead Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said officers were called just after 1 p.m. on Jan. 21 to a workplace incident in the Rural Municipality of Oakview, where emergency responders found the man deceased.
According to the release, the incident occurred on a construction site where “the driver of a skid steer had accidentally backed the equipment into a deep hole that had been dug.” RCMP, EMS personnel and local firefighters responded, and “the male’s death was confirmed at the scene,” Yellowhead RCMP said.
Police said Manitoba Workplace Health and Safety has joined the investigation.
Second Manitoba workplace death in a week
The incident marks the second workplace death in the province in the last week, according to a CTV News report.
On Jan. 16, a man was pulled into the machinery at a food manufacturing factory near Altona, Man. The 42-year-old worker was taken to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, “where he died from his injuries,” CTV News reported.
RCMP have not released the name of the worker who died near Hamiota. No information has been made public about the employer or the nature of the construction project, and no charges have been laid while the investigation continues.
According to data from the Workers Compensation Board of Canada, Manitoba recorded 95 work-related fatalities between 2020 and 2024.
The annual breakdown is:
- 2020: 14 deaths
- 2021: 20 deaths
- 2022: 16 deaths
- 2023: 23 deaths
- 2024: 22 deaths
These figures include both acute-hazard incidents and occupational disease fatalities.
