June 28, 2010

Road worker killed on the job in Red Deer, Alberta

A 53-year old road worker died last week while working on an upgrading project just north of Reed Deer, Alberta, when the machine he was driving tipped over.

“A county work crew was in the process of upgrading a road,” said Chris Chodan, spokesperson for Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. “The operator of a packer machine was moving it from one side of the jobsite to the other. He got too close to the edge of the road and the packer flipped over on its side.”

The incident happened at 11:40 am on June 19 at a rural intersection in Lacombe County.

“The operator was removed and treated at the scene,” said Chodan.

He was later pronounced dead at the scene. Chodan said investigators don’t yet know how the man died.

“We are still waiting for a cause of death, but he definitely wasn’t pinned or crushed by the machine,” he said.

The province has issued a stop-work order for the packer, a large piece of equipment used to crush down dirt, the man was driving. Investigations are underway.

JOC News Service

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