Brendan Stokes (Image Credit: Facebook)

By James Peters

Workplace Death

Inadequate training, supervision led to Kamloops teen’s death: Worksafe BC

Aug 13, 2020 | 11:18 AM

KAMLOOPS — A newly-released report into a workplace accident that killed a young Kamloops man shows a series of errors led to the tragic death.

Nineteen-year-old Brendan Stokes died in Dallas on June 29, 2018. The Kamloops Tirecraft employee was underneath a loader, servicing a wheel hub when the loader slipped off a hydraulic jack and onto him. Stokes was killed instantly.

Worksafe BC ultimately fined Kamloops Tirecraft about $8,400 for several “high-risk” violations that contributed to the incident.

On Thursday (Aug. 13), Worksafe BC sent a redacted Incident Investigation Report to CFJC Today as a response to a freedom of information request. The report provides details into the factors that caused the accident.

An inspector determined the jack being used to support the loader had been mounted on a crib kit placed in a depression in the ground. The setup should have been placed atop a jack plate to create an even surface and better distribute the weight of the loader.

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Additionally, the inspector found the jack’s saddle — the piece touching the loader’s axle — was “slightly crowned” rather than flat.

The report noted this particular jack should only have been used to raise the loader, not to support it while the service was taking place. The loader should have been placed on a cribbing or jack stands after it had been raised.

All of these factors contributed to the loader slipping off the jack.

RELATED VIDEO: CFJC Today aired this story on June 17, 2020

Turning its attention to the employer, the report found deficiencies with Kamloops Tirecraft’s training, occupational health and safety and supervision procedures.

Worksafe notes, in the weeks following the tragic incident, the company provided further training to its tire technicians and developed a new 17-step procedure for mounting and dismounting wheels on heavy equipment.

Meantime, an online petition calling for stiffer penalties against Kamloops Tirecraft has garnered nearly 15,000 signatures.

They include Stokes’ mother Kara, who comments, “If THIS is the punishment for killing an employee, no business run poorly will be afraid of the ‘penatly’. My sons life was not worth $8000 dollars. Such a smack in the face if I’ve ever seen one (sic).”

Read the full redacted Worksafe BC report here: