Recent news that the city was fined $75,000 after being found liable for a June 6, 2022, workplace incident doesn’t mean much to the man who was injured.
“I can’t really cry over spilled milk,” Cameron Stone told Sudbury.com this week. “It's done, and that’s what they’re getting charged with. I can’t really do much about it. They should be charged more, to be honest, but that’s what they’re getting. At least we know, now, that they’re at fault.”
Stone is more concerned about his ongoing road to recovery, which has left him wondering whether he’ll ever be able to hold a job again.
He was critically injured during the June 2022 incident in which his cherry picker toppled over, sending him 60 feet to the ground while harnessed to the lift. He was critically injured, and the following weeks saw him in and out of an induced coma.
Three years later, he is experiencing short-term memory loss and ongoing pain limits his mobility. Bones in his neck and back were fused and one of his legs is now shorter than the other.
Although some people have recommended that he take on a salesperson job or an office position, he said, “I was a labourer for a reason.”
Further, he said, “I can only sit down for 20 to 30 minutes at a time; standing and walking, the same thing. … I haven’t returned to work or anything yet and I probably won’t because of all of my restrictions and limitations.”
He doesn’t remember going into work as a CK Construction labourer on June 6, 2022, when he was working on the Flour Mill silos structure in preparation for a since-cancelled 111th anniversary celebration.
The first thing he remembers is waking up weeks later at Health Sciences North.
“It’s a big blur,” he said.
His and partner Brittany Sheahan’s three-year-old daughter, Serenity, keeps him busy, and support through Workplace Safety and Insurance Board have kept the family afloat financially. They opted to go through WSIB rather than pursue legal action independently because WSIB could offer immediate financial support, which the young family needed.
“It was the safest option,” Sheahan said, noting that their daughter was only six weeks old when Stone was injured.
Stone still goes to physiotherapy twice per week and is receiving treatment to assist with cognitive issues.
With friends still working in physically high places, Stone said his message to them and anyone who will listen is to take every precaution possible to ensure their workplace is safe.
“We’d done everything you’re supposed to do,” he said, adding that CK Construction had put him through safety training around working at heights only a couple weeks prior to the Flour Mill silos project.
“You can do everything right, but still, something could happen, so you’ve got to take every single precaution.”
Circular bureaucracy stymies efforts to secure court ruling
Despite repeated attempts through various layers of bureaucracy, Sudbury.com has been unable to obtain the court ruling issued on July 28 which ordered the City of Greater Sudbury to pay $75,000 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
We learned about the ruling in a story published earlier this week by The Sudbury Star in which it was reported that an underground utility vault for a fountain previously in service was still underground at the Flour Mill silos work site when Stone was injured on June 6, 2022. According to this report, the city did not make CK Construction aware of the vault, which collapsed under the weight of the cherry picker Stone was on top of and sent him hurtling to the ground and causing him injury.
Sudbury.com sought the court ruling from Sudbury Courthouse staff on Elm Street, who said the Greater Sudbury Provincial Offences Office would have it.
Provincial Offences Office staff said they do not have access to such material, and forwarded us to the city’s One Stop Shop municipal services desk at Tom Davies Square.
One Stop Shop staff said they did not have immediate access to the ruling and suggested we file a Freedom of Information request. We instead went to city spokespeople, who said the city is appealing the conviction, so would not be commenting on the matter, even to verify key details in The Sudbury Star’s reporting. They did not have a court order to share, as the decision was rendered orally, meaning a Freedom of Information request through the city would not have yielded results.
We also requested court ruling details through a Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills spokesperson, who said the passaround between bureaucrats we’d experienced to that point “makes no sense,” and the Sudbury Courthouse should have had the document available.
Several hours later, the spokesperson retracted this suggestion by clarifying that transcripts of court proceedings could be requested through the Greater Sudbury Provincial Offences Office.
Despite a Greater Sudbury Provincial Offences Office staff member clarifying in-person on Thursday that they wouldn’t have access to said transcripts, the request has been reiterated.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.