Why Safety is Important to Me

Why is workplace health and safety important to me? The answer is because of a kid named Shane.

In April 2000, fresh out of the University of Alberta, I set my sights on teaching English abroad. But before embarking on that journey, I took up a framing job with Hy-Mark Builders to save up. The project was close to home, offering $16.00 an hour, which seemed perfect at the time.

The day was July 11, 2000. It was a Tuesday. I remember it was a mild, warm day. Scattered clouds, light breeze, around 25 degrees. It had rained the night before. I remember that because there was a giant puddle in my work area and the roof was wet. The crew was in a good mood as we had gone through a cold rainy period the week before and we had just got the roof on phase one. On that day, I was building the decks, blocking and backing before moving onto phase two.

We broke lunch and we were giving each other a hard time about whatever guys give each other a hard time about. One of the guys was a 14-year-old boy named Shane Stecyk. He was hired by his uncle, the owner of the company, to tidy up the worksite. That was his second day on the job, having basically just finished grade 7 if I recall. We gave him the customary hard time that men do the kids. I remember asking him about something embarrassing. He turned red and we all had a good chuckle. I’m pretty sure he chirped back at me and called me grandpa. I was 28 at that time.

We went back to work after lunch. Shane went up on the roof to suck up the puddles with a shop vac, as the roofers were coming on-site that afternoon. I went to the main floor at the back of the building and continued building decks. As I was working, I heard scream inside and heard something hit the ground inside the atrium. That’s when the panicked shouting started. I walked in and we saw that Shane had fallen five stories through a skylight, landing right beside his uncle.

His uncle called 911 and told them that someone had fallen five stories and gave the foreman some directions. Shane was still alive as we provided first aid. I could see him struggling to understand what had just happened. He died a few minutes later. We began asking our own questions and tried to understand what had just happened.

The ambulance, police, OHS and media all showed up and began their investigations. I remember the OHS officer interviewing me. I don’t remember much of the conversation, but I was working in a different area, so could not provide any insight into what happened. He went straight to the roofer who had been on the roof when he fell.

I went up onto the roof to see for myself what happened, and I saw the railing. It was there and in perfect condition. I know this because I have always known that the foreman built it right after the incident. He told all of us that he did it to protect other workers. He even told us that he told OHS. I believed him. I was wrong to do so.

After that, we were sent home as told that the site was shut down and we’d be called back to work. I spent the next five days coping through drinking and reliving the moment. What other supports were available back then? Nothing. I relied on family and friends. The next Monday, we returned to the site and got back to work, after completing all the orders from OHS, which included a railing around the entire building and sealing off all the roof openings.

In retrospect, I know that I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. I struggled to go to work after that and missed a lot of work. Waking up and getting ready was not a problem. Where I struggled was actually walking onto the job site. I remember grabbing my things, walking a block and a half only to turn around and not show up more than once. There were no supports for the workers, no employee assistance program, no professional help.

Four weeks later I got on a plane and flew to Taipei for my new teaching job. A fresh start and a completely new experience was the perfect remedy for me. In time the memory of the incident faded, but Shane laying on the floor did not. It’s as clear as day for me even now. Having a child die next to you, probably does that to most people.

Upon finally returning home in 2016, I was faced with a decision. What would my career become? I had spent 17 years abroad and had transitioned from teaching to becoming a Human Resources professional. My boss at that time asked me what I would like to do and how I would like to develop. I was focusing on Human Resources and suggested that Health and Safety would be interesting and complement my background nicely.

He told me that I would learn health and safety by managing construction sites and should focus on the project management and sales side of the work. HR was going to be a small portion of the job as they were a general contractor and didn’t have a lot of employees.

I learned quickly that there was a huge difference between health and safety in 2016 vs 2000. My first project was a demolition of a government building in Inuvik, NWT. The health and safety coordinator and I had to create a whole program to deal with the lead, asbestos and petrol chemical contamination on the site. We also had to provide the safety plan and identify the hazards on-site before work could commence. And I had to provide weekly reports to the government. For me, I went from 0 to 100 in an instant. Over three years, I learned a lot on the practical, hands-on side because I had to do the work.

In 2019 I took on a full-time HR role which included full responsibility for the health and safety of 3 locations and 326 employees. I was thrown in the deep end at this company, because I had to complete the COR audit one week after starting, or they would miss the deadline for submission. I had the opportunity to work with a very experienced external auditor who explained what had to be done and why it had to be done. I was fascinated by the application of theory to practice and how you could positively impact safety outcomes.

Eventually, I decided that I would pursue further education in safety and eventually earn my CRSP designation. I enrolled in the University of Alberta’s certificate program in the summer of 2021. Through that program, I’m exploring the why behind the how. It’s a great benefit, as I am now teaching Human Resources students about health and safety at the University of Lethbridge and expanding their views on the role of Health and Safety as a Human Resources professional.

I remember July 11th often. I look at my kids, and the other young people I have hired and wonder what would happen if that happened to them. I tell a short version of this story to all new workers as I emphasize why health and safety is important to me, the company and why it should be for them too. Some listen…some don’t. That said, I have talked to some past employees and they told me that they remember that story from orientation years later because they could see it was personal.

Over the years I have thought about that incident, dissected it, processed it and thought about what I could have done differently that day, I came to realize that this death was a result of the lack of management controls. I didn’t know what I didn’t know and as a result, I didn’t know what to ask at that time. I didn’t know to question or report or challenge the status quo.

In health and safety, we talk about building a positive safety culture. In this case, I talk about the lack of a safety culture. There was no safety program. We never discussed safety on site. I remember laying joists on the 5 floors and putting the roof on with no fall arrest or railings. There was no safety orientation, no hazard assessment, no controls, no inspections. There was nothing. No one questioned it because we assumed, wrongly, that that’s how it was done.

Fast forward to 2022, I was attending an OHS Law at the U of A, where Mark Green, one of the prosecutors on this case, shared how this incident changed OHS in Alberta. He told the class a story about a 14 year old who died on a construction site back in 2000. I was shocked. I had not heard about the outcome of that incident and the impact that it had on health and safety in Alberta.

OHS had the 911 call and sent a copy to the RCMP Crime Lab to have it cleaned up as part of it was garbled. Shane’s uncle called 911, he placed his hand over the microphone and gave an order to the foreman. He lied about that day to his sister, family, the court and the media. He had told a made-up story about how Shane simply fell between the rails.

When the crown played the cleaned-up audio file in court, the case was over. He was recorded giving an order to the foreman. He said, “WCB will be here in a few minutes… get that F’ing railing up right now”. When that was played in court, his family who had been supportive, walked out on him as the truth had come out. In the end, he was fined $110,000 plus an $18,000 victim surcharge and lost his family. The foreman was found guilty and fined $4,000.

Back to the original question. Why is workplace health and safety important to you and why am I pursuing a career in health and safety? The answer is because of a 14-year-old kid named Shane.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/workplace-death-spurs-call-for-jail-time-1.334055

https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/safety/uncle-covered-up-fatal-workplace-accident/316685

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/court-dates-scheduled-in-boys-death-on-job/article18290774/