Alberta Labour has determined Wednesday morning's death of a man who had been working at the construction site of the yet-to-be opened Cavendish Farms frozen potato processing plant in Lethbridge was not work related and was the result of a medical event.
A man was injured at the facility on 43 Street North at around 8:00 a.m. He was transported from the scene by ambulance but succumbed to his injuries prior to arriving at Chinook Regional Hospital.
Alberta Labour officials say an investigation into the death is underway but few details have been confirmed.
“We haven't been able to confirm the worker's age or gender yet and we haven't been able to confirm exactly who the worker was employed by,” said Trent Bancarz, an Alberta Labour spokesperson on Wednesday. “Our OH&S (Occupational Health and Services) officers have been on site and are investigating.”
Lafarge Lethbridge emailed a statement about the incident to CTV News from General Manager Mike Schmidtler on Thursday morning saying…
‘Lafarge is terribly sorry to share that John Zalik, a ready-mix truck driver in our Lethbridge market passed away on January 16th. His co-workers miss him already and send heartfelt condolences to all his friends and family.
No further comment is available at this time as Lafarge cooperates with the authorities on the investigation.’
On Thursday afternoon, Alberta Labour confirmed to CTV that the death of the 57-year-old was the result of a medical event and not related to his work on the site.
Construction on the plant has been underway for just over a year and the facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.
