Nova Scotia

More charges laid in construction worker's fatal fall in Dartmouth

Foreman Jeff Gooch and Insulated Panel Structures are now facing charges under Nova Scotia's Occupational Health and Safety Act, accused of failing to ensure fall protection gear was used properly.

Brandon Alcorn was working on the Kent Building Supplies site when he fell from the roof

Brnadon is posing in front of an Alexander Keith's sign.
Brandon Alcorn, 22, died on March 13, 2018 after he fell while working at the construction site for the Kent Building Supplies store in Dartmouth Crossing. (Submitted by Janice Way)

The foreman and employer of a 22-year-old man who died after falling from a Dartmouth construction site are facing charges under Nova Scotia's Occupational Health and Safety Act.

They are accused of failing to ensure fall protection gear was used properly. 

Brandon Alcorn, who grew up in Porters Lake, N.S., died on March 13, 2018 after suffering head injuries sustained in a fall from the roof of a Kent Building Supplies store that was under construction.

Alcorn had been working as a labourer for Insulated Panel Structures, Inc., a Waterdown, Ont., company at the Cutler Drive site. 

Foreman Jeff Scott Gooch, 37, was arrested Nov. 30, 2019 and charged with criminal negligence causing death

Now Gooch is also accused of knowingly giving an Occupational Health and Safety officer false information two days after Alcorn's death, as well as failing to ensure he had up-to-date fall protection training and failing to ensure he wore fall-protection gear while working at a height.

The OHS charges state fall-protection gear was required on four different days, including the day Alcorn died, and Gooch  "failed to take every reasonable precaution to protect the health and safety" of someone in the workplace.

The Kent Building Supply store in Dartmouth Crossing was under construction in March 2018. (CBC)

Insulated Panel Structures was also charged Jan. 8 with:

  • failing to ensure an employee had valid fall protection training.
  • failing to have a written fall-protection safe-work procedure.
  • failing to ensure fall-protection gear was used Feb. 6, March 9, March 12 and March 13, 2018.

Gooch and Insulated Panel Structures are due in Dartmouth provincial court on the OHS charges Jan. 28. 

Gooch is scheduled to appear in court on the criminal charge on Feb. 25.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth McMillan is a journalist with CBC in Halifax. Over the past 15 years, she has reported from the edge of the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Coast and loves sharing people's stories. You can send tips and feedback to elizabeth.mcmillan@cbc.ca.