Alberta-based company Banff Constructors Ltd. has been found liable in the death of a 21-year-old construction worker who was crushed by a table cart on the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital site in Saskatoon.

Judge Brent Klause ruled on Wednesday that Eric Ndayishimiye was not “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when the Pilosio cart collapsed on him while he was stripping nails on the hospital’s ground floor on July 21, 2016.

“He was placed there by his employer, who did not take precautions to ensure his safety. If anything, he was working for the wrong company — a company who was willing to spend money on an expert to shift the blame afterward, but was not willing to spend the time and money to get the correct parts and safety manuals for the equipment in the first place,” Klause said.

He found Banff Constructors, a subcontractor on the project, failed under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure the table cart was used safely.

The OHS trial — which began in 2019 — heard the cart collapsed after Ndayishimiye’s co-worker removed two safety pins in order to move the cart into a tight space, alone.

Banff Constructors allowed employees to operate the cart — used to form concrete slabs — without any written instructions or attempt to contact the manufacturer about safety requirements, and then modified the cart without the manufacturer’s permission, Klause ruled.

Keep reading in The Star Phoenix