Drowning victim had filled tanker truck "a thousand times"
Inquest into 2004 drowning death began Monday
Posted By Shawn Giilck, Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin
Posted 2 months ago
An inquest into the death of an Owen Sound man who drowned in Collingwood Harbour more than five years ago began Monday.
Donald Buckton died on May 28, 2004, after he fell into the water while trying to fill a tanker truck. An autopsy conducted the day after his body was pulled from Collingwood Harbour confirmed he had drowned.
As the inquest opened Monday, Assistant Crown Attorney Rick Bagg summarized the evidence for the jury.
He said Buckton had been sent to fill a tanker truck at the harbour at approximately 11:30 a.m. When he didn't return, Ken Fromager, his supervisor with E. C. King Contracting, a division of the Miller Group, went to check on his whereabouts at approximately 12:30 p.m. The truck was found at the harbour midway between Huron Street and the terminal building, but no sign of the missing Buckton was found.
Fromager and another co-worker returned to the truck after looking for Buckton elsewhere. Fromager described Buckton as “jovial and extremely friendly.”
“It wouldn't have been out of character for him to start talking to someone,” said Fromager.
When a blue hard hat was seen floating in the harbour, Fromager called 9-1-1.
The OPP Search and Recovery Unit from Gravenhurst located his body later that afternoon in about 25 feet of water.
Fromager said that while he had a good working knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, he wasn't aware of provisions that outlined that Buckton should have been wearing a life jacket while working around the water. He also should have been accompanied by two other workers, according to Section 27 of the act.
The jury was told three workers are to be “available” whenever there is a possibility of drowning, according to the act, so there is a good chance of rescuing someone who has fallen into the water.
However, the act doesn't define what “available” means.
“Don had done the job for years,” said Fromager. “He had probably filled the truck a thousand times.”
The paving job was at a “crucial” point when Buckton disappeared, Fromager said. The rollers were running low on water at the time, and work couldn't have continued without a steady source of water.
He described E.C. King as a “very safety-conscious company” that has revised its policies since Buckton's death.
He speculated the strong wind blowing that day might have knocked Buckton into the cold water of Georgian Bay.
“The wind was very heavy,” he said.
Dr. Peter Savage is presiding as inquest coroner.
Under the Coroners Act, an inquest is mandatory when a worker dies as a result of an accident occurring at a construction project.
