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Nova Scotia

N.S. firefighting school facing labour charges in fatal training accident

Representatives of the Nova Scotia Firefighting School will be in court early in the new year to answer to charges under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act relating to a training accident that led to the death of a firefighter.

Skyler Blackie, 28, died in March 2019 after he was critically injured at the school

Blair Rhodes · CBC News ·
A young man is pictured in uniform with a fire hat and moustache.
Skyler Blackie, 28, of Debert, N.S., had been a volunteer firefighter since he was 18 years old. (Town of Truro)

Representatives of the Nova Scotia Firefighting School will be in court early in the new year to answer to charges under the province's Occupational Health and Safety Act relating to a training accident that led to the death of a firefighter

Skyler Blackie, 28, died March 20, 2019, 11 days after he was critically injured in a training incident at the school in Waverley, N.S. Blackie had been a firefighter in Truro, N.S., since 2013.

One charge is that the school failed to take every reasonable precaution that employees were familiar with every potential health and safety problem in the workplace.

The second charge is that the school failed to ensure equipment was recertified according to manufacturers' specifications.

A lawyer for the school appeared in provincial court in Dartmouth earlier this month. The matter will return to court Jan. 11 for election and plea.

 

 

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