The Crown has withdrawn charges against one of three companies accused of violating safety regulations in connection with a workplace fatality in Halifax in July 2018.

Michael Wile drowned after the truck he was driving accidentally rolled into Bedford Basin while he was trying to dump a load of pyritic slate into the water at Fairview Cove.

The provincial Labour Department laid Occupational Health and Safety Act charges last April against SiteLogic Construction Management Inc. of Dartmouth and its president, David Seaboyer, as well as J.R. Eisener Contracting Ltd. of Fall River.

A federal health and safety officer filed a Canada Labour Code charge against the Halifax Port Authority in July.

SiteLogic and Seaboyer pleaded guilty in Halifax provincial court in August to two counts of failing to take reasonable precautions to ensure the health or safety of persons at a workplace.

Seaboyer, who was the manager in charge of day-to-day operations at the site, admitted that he failed to ensure a spotter was there to guide truck operators as they dumped at the water’s edge, and that he failed to have a safe dump ramp in place to make sure trucks did not roll into the basin.

Last month, Judge Gregory Lenehan levied a total of $60,000 in fines against Seaboyer and his company. He also ordered Seaboyer to give 10 one-hour safety presentations within the next 18 months.

“This was not an accident,” Lenehan said. “This tragic death was completely avoidable.”

J.R. Eisener was operating excavators and trucks at the site and was tasked with providing spotters and maintaining a safe dump ramp. It was charged with three counts of failing to take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of workers, for allegedly not having a checker or spotter in place.

But on Tuesday, Crown attorney Alex Keaveny advised the judge that in light of the guilty pleas by the site manager, he was withdrawing the charges against J.R. Eisener.

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