Shane Gorner, a Salmon Arm Secondary grad, was killed this week in a workplace accident.
(Note, this image has been cropped)
Image Credit: Facebook
August 30, 2013 - 12:08 PM
SALMON ARM - Another teen has died in an industrial accident.
Shane Mackenzie Gorner, 19, died Wednesday afternoon after getting caught in machinery at Dinoflex Manufacturing in Salmon Arm. His death comes after the death of a Lumby teen at the Tolko Lavington mill in June.
A communications officer for WorkSafe B.C. says fatal and serious incident officers have already begun their investigation into the accident, which occurred around 1:30 p.m.
"They'll be talking with witnesses and gathering information to determine what factors may have led to this," Megan Johnston says.
The investigation will look for potential issues with equipment, supervision and training.
"Manufacturing is a high risk category of work because of the equipment it involves," Johnston says.
Although a medical helicopter was dispatched immediately, Gorner succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
"Any workplace death is tragic. That's why we investigate, so we can hopefully prevent it from happening again," Johnston says.
Dinoflex CEO Mark Bunz said in an email that the company is commissioning a third party safety audit of the plant, and will "make any improvements to operating procedures that may be identified" in WorkSafe or Coroners reports. The company manufactures rubber flooring from recycled tires.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of our colleague, Shane Gorner, who died tragically in an accident at our plant yesterday. We will provide whatever support we can to Shane’s family during this difficult period," Bunz said.
"We have brought in grief counsellors to meet with any members of staff who need emotional support. We don’t know at this stage exactly how the accident happened, but we are working with investigators from Worksafe B.C. and the coroner to determine that."
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013