The Calgary company that employed a 27-year-old apprentice plumber who died after he was buried in a collapsed trench at a work site two years ago faces 11 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Liam Johnston was killed in June 2023 while doing sewer repairs in the northwest community of Charleswood.
Johnston worked for Mr. Mike’s Plumbing at the time.
The charges against the company include failing to ensure worker safety, failing to stabilize an excavation site by shoring and failing to ensure a worker is protected from cave-ins at an excavation site.
“Finally something is happening,” said Johnston’s mother Kim Ivison.
Hazard identified day before incident, charge alleges
Another of the charges alleges Mr. Mike’s identified a hazard the day before the fatal incident yet failed to take measures to eliminate the safety concern.
Johnston’s parents say that charge, in particular, makes them feel “angry and sick.”
“It shouldn’t have happened,” said stepdad Adam Groves.
The company is due in court to face the charges on July 22.
The Calgary Police Service conducted its own investigation. A spokesperson for CPS said this week that the file is currently with the Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service for review.
Both of Johnston’s parents say they’re angry and frustrated with the system; it’s been nearly two years since Johnston was killed.
“It’s very slow and it’s very non-transparent,” says Ivison.
Liam’s girlfriend at the time, Emily Gofton, says she has mixed emotions about the charges being laid.
“It’s exciting, overwhelming. It’s triggering, it makes us angry all over again. But we’re just so happy to finally see some movement on this,” she said.
“To lose him is, it’s something that I’ll never recover from. I’ll never be the same person again.”
In an interview with CBC News in June 2023, Gofton said he had texted her regarding his concerns about job site safety the day before he was killed.
According to information posted to a website set up by Johnston’s loved ones, the family alleges there were no engineers on site and no trench box set up on site.
Company said it had ‘shoring on site’
In a statement issued days after Johnston’s death, Mr. Mike’s Plumbing Ltd. said it was “deeply saddened” at its employee’s death.
The company said it had “shoring on site and everything available to be able to install the shoring from above without jeopardizing anyone’s safety. At some point while installing, this tragedy occurred.”
The statement went on to say it was working closely with authorities and would ensure “appropriate measures” were taken to prevent similar accidents in the future.
CBC News has reached out to Mr. Mike’s Plumbing for comment on the charges.
On the day of the incident, the Calgary Fire Department said in a media release that the victim was working on a ladder in the three- to six-metre deep trench when a large amount of earth collapsed on top of him from the steep slope above.
Fire department crews spent hours digging to get to Johnston. He was found dead by the time they got to him.
A fire department battalion chief said the recovery involved “extensive safety precautions” because the trench was “unsafe.”
Firefighters used tools to remove the sandy soil and parts of the cinder block retaining wall, but heavy equipment was needed to remove the surrounding dirt to get to the man.
