UPDATED: Triple M Housing and its entities facing charges in relation to 2017 workplace incident

Jul 3, 2019 | 4:02 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A Lethbridge company and its 11 subsidiaries are facing a total of 13 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety (OH & S) Act. The charges are in relation to a workplace incident in May 2017 that left a woman, who was 37-years-old at the time, paralyzed and in a wheel chair.

According to documents sent to LethbridgeNewsNOW by OH & S, Triple M Housing and its related companies face charges that include failure to ensure the health and safety of a worker by failing to enforce the use of spotters when operating a crane system, failing to provide instruction on where stands should have been placed, and that stands or other objects were not placed by the guard railing located on the mezzanine level, failing to ensure that the worker did not work in the potential fall path of objects from the mezzanine level above the work area, failure to assess their work site and identify existing or potential hazards and eight other charges.

Triple M Housing Charges OH & S Page 1

The documents state that on May 15, 2017, a worker was struck by a falling steel roof truss stand from the mezzanine area above. The worker was admitted to hospital because of the injuries she suffered in the incident.

Triple M Housing Charges Page 2 OH & S

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According to a Go Fund Me page, the worker was identified as Angela Entz. The page, set up by Terri Kistner on behalf of Nettie Entz, indicates that Angela was also flown by STARS Air Ambulance to Calgary Foothills Hospital, where she remained for several months, following surgery and extensive rehabilitation.

Several paragraphs on the page indicate Entz has since regained some movement in her hands.

Triple M Housing is expected to be back in Lethbridge Provincial Court in September.

Lethbridge News NOW has received the following statement regarding the charges, from President and CEO Rick Weste:

“Triple M Housing has been deeply saddened by this incident and the loss our employee and her family have suffered. Triple M Housing takes this matter very seriously and has fully cooperated with the investigation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”

Weste says the company has had no previous charges, and the company’d dedication to safety includes holding a Certificate of Recognition in the Alberta Partnerships in Health and Safety Program Since 1999.

by Lara Fominoff