Halifax Port Authority fined $75K in truck driver's death

The Halifax Port Authority has been fined $75,000 and ordered to make a $15,000 charitable donation in connection with the drowning death of a dump truck driver who backed his vehicle into the Bedford Basin.

Michael Wile died in 2018. He was dumping fill into the basin near the Fairview Cove container pier.

Last March, Nova Scotia Provincial Court Judge Elizabeth Buckle found the port authority had violated the provincial labour code because there were safety measures missing from the area where Wile was working that would have prevented the vehicle from entering the water.

The Crown had recommended the authority be fined the maximum allowed under the act, which is $100,000. But Buckle said the maximum wasn't necessary to meet the requirements of deterrence and denunciation.

While acknowledging that a charitable donation is somewhat unusual, the judge ruled it was appropriate. The money is going to The Threads of Life, an organization that helps families suffering from a workplace fatality or serious injury.