RCMP, provincial regulator probe farm entanglement and roofing fall
Occupational health and safety investigators in southern Manitoba are examining two unrelated workplace deaths that occurred roughly a day apart in mid-June.
This comes as a farm worker was fatally entangled in machinery near Winkler and a roofer died in a fall from an apartment building in Portage la Prairie, according to Manitoba RCMP.
Both incidents have triggered joint investigations involving the provincial workplace safety regulator, and both centre on hazards — machine entanglement and falls from height — that rank among the most persistent killers on Canadian worksites.
Fatal entanglement at a Stanley-area farm
On June 16, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Pembina Valley RCMP responded to a report of a workplace incident at a commercial farming operation in the Rural Municipality of Stanley, south of Winkler. The call set in motion the second fatal workplace investigation that detachment area had logged in as many days.
Investigators determined that a 68-year-old man was working with equipment when the incident occurred. According to Manitoba RCMP, the worker "became entangled with the machinery," and "the individual died at the scene." No further detail on the type of equipment involved was released.
For OHS practitioners, the case underscores the entanglement and entrapment risks that remain endemic to agricultural workplaces, where workers frequently interact with power take-off shafts, augers, balers and other moving components. RCMP and the province's occupational safety authority are jointly investigating the circumstances of the death.
Table 1 — Machine-entanglement fatalities
|
Geography |
Total work-related death claims |
Machine-entanglement fatalities, past 5 yrs |
Coverage and caveats |
Data source (publisher) |
|
Canada (all jurisdictions) |
Approximately 1,000 accepted death claims per year; 2024 reported as 1,042 or 1,024 (sources disagree) |
Not published as a separate category. Available only via a custom NWISP extract from AWCBC |
Counts only WCB-accepted claims; excludes unreported deaths and non-covered work groups. The closest published grouping is "contact with objects and equipment," not entanglement specifically |
AWCBC, National Work Injury/Disease Statistics Program (NWISP); referenced by the federal CCOHS |
|
Canada (federally regulated only) |
Not yet retrieved |
Not published as a separate category |
Covers roughly 6 per cent of the labour force; would exclude almost all provincial farm and roofing deaths |
ESDC Labour Program |
|
Manitoba |
Provincial totals are published but not yet retrieved here; available on request |
Not published as a separate category. Request a cause breakdown from WCB Manitoba |
Provincial WCB-accepted claims only |
WCB of Manitoba / SAFE Work Manitoba |
Roofer's fatal fall in Portage la Prairie
A day earlier, on June 15 at approximately 10:30 a.m., officers were called to an apartment block on 14th Street Northwest in Portage la Prairie after a man fell from the roof. On arrival, police found EMS crews already providing care to a person on the ground.
Officers established that the man had been working as a roofer when he fell an estimated 12 to 15 feet. In a detail likely to draw close scrutiny from safety regulators, Manitoba RCMP stated that "it does not appear he was wearing a safety harness at the time." The worker, a 25-year-old local resident, died at the scene.
Falls from height remain a leading cause of traumatic occupational fatality across Canada, and fall-protection requirements — including the use of harnesses and anchorage systems above prescribed heights — are a core element of provincial safety codes. The absence of fall protection, if confirmed, is the kind of finding that frequently anchors regulatory enforcement following a roofing death.
Table 2 — Roofing-fall fatalities
|
Geography |
Roofing-fall fatalities, past 5 yrs |
Nearest published category and figure |
Coverage and caveats |
Source (publisher) |
|
Canada (all jurisdictions) |
Not published separately |
"Falls to a lower level" exists as an NWISP event category, but no national roofing subset is released; needs a custom AWCBC extract |
WCB-accepted claims only; excludes unreported and non-covered deaths |
AWCBC, NWISP; referenced by federal CCOHS |
|
Manitoba |
Not published separately |
No public falls-from-elevation or roofing fatality breakdown located; request a cause split from WCB Manitoba |
Provincial WCB-accepted claims only |
WCB of Manitoba / SAFE Work Manitoba |
|
British Columbia (illustrative — other province) |
Not isolated |
Construction-sector falls from elevation, 2020–2024: 35 fatalities (plus ~1,900 serious injuries) |
BC only; construction only; "falls from elevation" spans roofs, scaffolds, ladders — not roofing-specific |
WorkSafeBC, via AWCBC (awcbc.org, Apr 2025) |
|
Alberta & BC, 2023 (illustrative — other provinces) |
Not isolated |
"Falls to a lower level," 2023: Alberta 7; BC 22 |
Secondary citation — verify directly with AWCBC before use |
AWCBC, reported via a third party (Kee Safety, keesafety.ca) |
Investigations ongoing
Both deaths are being investigated jointly by the RCMP and Manitoba's provincial workplace safety regulator, which holds authority to issue orders and, where warranted, pursue prosecution under occupational health and safety legislation.
No charges had been announced in either case as of the police statements, and no findings as to cause have been released.
