Three years after Liam Johnston was buried alive in a trench collapse while working on an excavation site in northwest Calgary, the company that employed him pleaded guilty to one of 11 charges they faced under Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Liam Johnston, 27, died in June 2023
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Three years after Liam Johnston was buried alive in a trench collapse while working on an excavation site in northwest Calgary, the company that employed him pleaded guilty to one of 11 charges they faced under Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
On Monday, Justice Gordon Krinke accepted Mr. Mike’s Plumbing’s guilty plea to the charge of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of Johnston, who was killed on June 8, 2023.
The 10 other charges were withdrawn as part of the plea.
The company was found to have inadequate supervision at the excavation site on the day of Johnston’s death.
Court heard that the site was not properly shored at the time and a photo of one of Johnston’s co-workers in a dangerous position sent to a supervisor just minutes before the trench collapse did not raise any red flags.
