SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Hay River construction company was ordered to pay $63,250 in territorial court Jan. 7 after one of its employees had to have his right leg amputated below the knee following a 2008 accident at the Snare hydro power plant.

Tim Mcauley had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after a June 3, 2008 accident at the Snare hydro power plant. In this photo, taken about three weeks after the accident, Mcauley already had part of the leg amputated, and was waiting for additional surgery. Mcauley's employer, Carter Industries, was fined $63,250 for the accident Jan. 7. - NNSL file photo

Carter Industries Ltd. pleaded guilty to one charge under the NWT Safety Act for failing to provide reasonable health and safety precautions when the north end of a five-metre high Bailey bridge fell on Tim Mcauley's right foot on June 3, 2008.

Court records filed May 10, 2010, show that Tim Mcauley is suing other parties - the NWT Power Corporation, Mandeville Engineering, Tim Boyce and Lloyd Mandeville - for $950,000 relating to the accident.

Crown prosecutor John Cliffe explained that prior to the accident, the end of the bridge had to be raised with a chain attached to a payloader so structural work to the bridge could be performed. Once the bridge was raised, Mcauley, 26 at the time of the incident, tried to place a wooden beam underneath the bridge to keep it elevated.

However, before he could, the chain snapped and the bridge fell on his foot. Mcauley was flown to Stanton Territorial Hospital, nearly 140 km to the southeast, where doctors were forced to amputate his right leg below the knee.

An investigation by the Workers' Compensation Board of Northwest Territories and Nunavut, now the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, concluded the chain wasn't "sufficiently weighted" to hold the bridge, even though the same operation had been performed a year earlier on the south end of the bridge.

Lawyer Steve Eichler, representing Carter Industries, started to explain there were differences between the north and south end of the bridge that contributed to the accident. Before he could continue, Judge Robert Gorin interrupted, saying, "perhaps they were just lucky the first time."

"I guess we'll never know," replied Eichler.

Although the defence described economic hardships faced by the company in recent years, Eichler said Carter Industries would only need until the end of the month to pay the fine. Gorin looked surprised at the admission, but accommodated and set Feb. 1 as the due date to pay the fine.

Under the NWT Safety Act, Carter Industries could have been fined a maximum of $500,000. But Gorin accepted the joint submission by the Crown and the defence, which breaks down into a fine of $55,000 payable to a fund held by the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, as well as a $8,250 victims of crime surcharge.

After the sentence, Cliffe defended the fine as balanced and a "fit and proper one" based on the circumstances, especially given the company's ability to pay and that it was a first offence.

Carter Industries originally faced 15 charges under the NWT Safety Act, but the Crown dropped the remaining 14 charges after the guilty plea. The prosecution also had dropped 25 charges under the act against Tim Boyce, Carter Industries' site-supervisor in June.

Shawn Carter, president of Carter Industries, declined to speak to the media at the courthouse after the sentencing.

Carter Industries was working as a contractor for Power Corp. at the time of the accident. The Power Corp. and Mandeville Engineering Inc., another contractor on the project, previously pleaded not guilty to 15 counts each under the Safety Act, and Lloyd Mandeville, an employee with the engineering company, pleaded not guilty to 21 counts. Their trial is scheduled for territorial court March 7 to 18.

Mcauley couldn't be reached for comment.

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