Brooks paving company sentenced in worker fatality case, paying $295K in penalties

A Brooks paving and construction company plead guilty for failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker who died in 2021, the Alberta government reported Tuesday.

Smith Group Holdings Ltd. and subsidiary Brooks Asphalt & Aggregate Ltd. were jointly charged with 15 counts under occupational health and safety laws.

When Brooks Asphalt and Aggregate Ltd. pled guilty March 6 to failing to ensure the worker’s safety, the other 14 charges were dropped.

The charges stem from an incident on a road construction site in the County of Newell on July 23, 2021. A worker was asphyxiated while cleaning out a gravel bin with a running conveyor, according to an Alberta news release.