City Worker Injured By Falling Tree

A Saint John city worker is recovering from a lower-body injury after being struck by a falling tree last week.

Lisa Caissie, a spokesperson for the city, confirmed to our newsroom that the incident happened last Thursday.

“The fellow employee who was on-site responded quickly and professionally to assist the employee and call 911,” Caissie wrote in an email Monday.

The worker was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and later released, said Caissie.

Caissie did not respond to follow-up questions about where the incident took place.

She said WorkSafeNB was made aware of the incident and has completed its investigation, but did not provide any details.

Laragh Dooley, executive director of corporate communications at WorkSafeNB, confirmed that it was called in to investigate.

“We did investigate an incident that happened on June 10, at around 3:45 p.m., in which a worker suffered a lower body injury,” Dooley wrote in an email.

In addition to the investigation by WorkSafeNB, Caissie said the city is completing an after-action review, which is standard following any workplace incident.

“Generally speaking, the after-action review is used to identify any lessons learned, actions that could be taken to prevent a similar occurrence from happening again, and any additional training competencies that may be required to help employees react and respond safely and appropriately,” she wrote.

The review, said Caissie, also helps the city identify what worked well to minimize or mitigate injury or damages.

She said the city maintains strict safety procedures for all employees and ensures they are appropriately trained, competent, and have the equipment and protections in place to conduct their work as safely as possible.