P.E.I carpenter fined $30,000 after employee died in workplace fall at West Prince job site
Incident marked 3rd workplace death in the province in less than a year
A carpenter from western Prince Edward Island has been ordered to pay $30,000 after an employee died following a fall on a worksite that did not have the proper safety protocols in place.
Trevor Burden, 54, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Summerside to a charge under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act for failing to properly supervise his employee and failing to have a proper fall-arrest system in place.
Under P.E.I. legislation, employers are required to ensure adequate fall protection equipment is provided and used properly, and workers are required to use it when it has been provided.
The court heard Burden had worked in construction for decades and ran a small operation. On the day of the accident, Burden had just one employee with him — a 34-year-old man also from western P.E.I.
The accident
Burden had been contracted to build a garage on an existing home in St. Felix and was working there on Jan. 13 along with his employee and two family members of the homeowner.
They were working on closing in the roof of the garage when Burden's employee fell off the roof on the backside of the home. There were no witnesses to the fall since the man was alone at the time.
"He was not wearing fall protection and there were no guardrails on the bracket scaffolding work platform," according to an agreed statement of facts signed by Burden.
Fall protection, or fall-arrest systems, often involve a harness and a series of gear designed to catch people who are working at heights.
The court heard the crew found the man unresponsive and called 911.
Burden and one of the other men performed CPR on the employee, who had worked for Burden for more than 15 years and was also a family friend.
When an ambulance arrived, they were able to stabilize the 34-year-old and take him to the Prince County Hospital. But the man had no brain activity, and was later moved to a hospital in Moncton where he was pronounced dead.
According to an obituary posted by the man's family, he was married and had two children.
'Complacency with workplace safety'
Back at the accident site, the RCMP called the P.E.I. Workers Compensation Board's occupational health and safety division.
"The WCB's OHS Division was notified of an incident involving a worker working at heights in St. Felix," an emailed statement from the Workers' Compensation Board reads.
"The incident caused fatal injuries. The OHS Division was notified the same day the incident happened and after attending the scene, the OHS Division began a formal investigation."
The court also heard this was not Burden's first run-in with OHS, nor his first time dealing with that division around fall prevention.
The same employee who later died had filed a workers compensation claim after an injury in December 2022. It happened while he was stepping off a two-foot high metal bench.
This had Burden placed on a workplace inspection list, and he was inspected twice in 2024.
"They specifically discussed his responsibilities under the OHS Act Fall Protection Regulations and his duty to report serious workplace injuries," the court document reads of the first inspection.
The second meeting — just three months before the employee's death — also focused on fall protection and the importance of training records, guardrails on scaffolding and first aid requirements.
"The evidence gathering through investigation established that the employer, Trevor S. Burden, was knowledgeable about fall protection and his responsibilities under the legislation," the agreed statement of facts reads.
It also said Burden and his employee had taken two fall-arrest courses prior to the employee's deadly accident.
"Complacency with workplace safety for fall protection and scaffolding on this construction site led to a workplace death."
3rd death in less than a year
During the hearing on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor John Diamond spoke about how this was the province's third workplace death in about a six-month period.
Last August, a man with ties to the Island's Buddhist community was killed while cutting down trees in the woods.
The Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society was later ordered to pay $100,000, while another monk personally had to pay $10,000.
Then in October, a longtime blueberry farm worker at blueberry grower Jasper Wyman & Son Canada Inc. was crushed by his tractor. In that case, the company was fined $80,000.
"For whatever reason, we're faced with major issues in the workplace in our community," Diamond said Tuesday.
Both he and Judge Krista MacKay spoke about how the penalties for employers found in violation of the act need to prevent other employers from doing the same, but without financially ruining the business.
"Mr. Burden takes responsibility for his actions, or lack thereof, and that is evident by his guilty plea," Burden's lawyer, Andrew Sharpe, told the court.
Sharpe also described the accident as "devastating" due to Burden's close friendship with the employee.
Sharpe said Burden's operation is now just his son and himself, and they've adopted new safety practices since the accident with plans to do more training later this summer.
"It's a tragic situation and not the first one I've seen like this, unfortunately," MacKay said. "When people cut corners and don't follow the rules, unfortunately, we have a situation like the one before us today."
The judge accepted Sharpe and Diamond's joint recommendation of a $2,500 fine for the incident, and a further $27,500 paid to WCB to advance public education in the province.
MacKay said the total of $30,000 was significant, but reasonable for an operation like Burden's.
"It's not crushing but it is meaningful," she said. "Hopefully it serves as a deterrent to others."
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