Industrial incident claims life, Ministry of Labour now investigating

A man involved in an industrial incident at the MacKenzie Bridge in Shuniah has died, a Ministry of Labour spokesman confirmed.

Officials with the Thunder Bay detachment of the OPP say a 24-year-old-man was injured when the scissors lift he was operating tipped over on Friday, causing it to fall more than 15 metres to the ground.

Paramedics rushed the man to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Matt Blajer, spokesman for the Ministry of Labour, said a the man died in the hospital from the injuries he sustained.  

The OPP later announced that the victim was identified as Gustavo Argueta, of Thunder Bay.

The ministry issued orders to stop work with all scissors lifts as well as to not disturb the bridge while they conduct their investigation.

"We want to know what happened," Blajer said. "We want to know what kind of training this worker had and what precautions were taken.

“The first thing we do is making sure that it is safe for other people to work. That’s our number one. The second is reconstructing what had happened, how it happened and if mistakes were made."

Blajer added they have a year to complete the investigation.

The OPP is also continuing its investigation into the incident.