By Andrew Bates | Telegraph-Journal
The sister of a man who died on a construction site near Sussex, N.B., said her brother would “do anything for anybody.”
Windturbine Construction Team Inc. made a court appearance through a lawyer in Saint John Monday on charges of failing to ensure that an industrial lift truck is used for its intended purpose and is not loaded beyond its capacity under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The charges relate to a July 18 workplace fatality in Springdale, N.B., that killed Matthew Jeremy Brawn, 46, of Regina, Sask., according to court documents.
In July, Amy Pellerin of power company Natural Forces said that a subcontractor died while working on the Neweg Energy Project, a six-turbine project east of Springdale and south of Portage Vale.
WorkSafeNB had said it was investigating after a workplace fatality in the Sussex area where a worker was “fatally injured while working around heavy equipment,” according to spokesperson Lynn Meahan-Carson. Police said they had responded but found there was no “criminality component,” according to RCMP Sgt. Kevin Glode, leaving the investigation with WorkSafeNB.
Brawn’s obituary says that he was killed working in New Brunswick, and drove a pilot truck for Regina, Sask.-based Richards Transport. His sister, Erinn-Jane Brawn, said Richards had been subcontracting to Halifax-based Windturbine Construction Team.
“We miss him very much,” Brawn said. “And he should still be with us. It was a horrible way for us to lose him.”
Her brother got a broken leg in January and stayed with her family through the spring before heading to New Brunswick on July 1, she said.
“I hugged him hard, said be careful,” she said. “He expected to be back by August or September, he always tried to be back by the exhibition to take my little guy to the fair.”
Matt Brawn had travelled with his dog Dottie and was sending back pictures of chicken and waffles, she said.
“He was excited to be in a hotel on the harbour there,” she said. “They were supposed to be doing however many trips inland … before he would be back.”
She said after Matt Brawn’s death the coroner was “very nice” but couldn’t share many details. She said one of the owners of Richards Transport came to her house with the news, and that the police told her that the case was with WorkSafeNB.
“We went ahead with the funeral without my brother’s body home,” she said. “He was not back for quite a bit after that.”
The service was held at Mosaic Stadium July 27, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, his favourite team.
“The guys he worked with said Matt wouldn’t hesitate to lend a hand,” she said. “He would do anything for anybody.”
Erinn-Jane Brawn said her brother was the family driver, even though he was “never in a hurry to get anywhere,” and that he would spend time with her six-year-old son and bring him presents from his travels.
“He didn’t have a family but he had us,” she said. “He was important to us. No he didn’t have three kids and whatever house, it doesn’t matter. We needed him.”
Matt Brawn liked downhill ski racing and working with cars, according to his obituary, and travelled often both as a pilot truck driver and while working in insurance with his father Jack until his retirement.
He was “on the road a lot,” his sister said, and had owned a home in Regina but moved in with their father after their mother Gail was killed after being hit by a car in 2021. Their father went into full-time dementia care in June 2023, she said.
“We didn’t tell my dad Mattie’s gone,” she said. “I lost my mom and dad and my brother in three and a half years.”
Brawn is also survived by brother Duncan, half-sister Jackie and aunts, uncles and cousins, according to his obituary.
In court on Monday, lawyer Isaac Corey appeared as an agent for Robert Basque and said Basque had asked for time to receive more evidence from the Crown. The case was adjourned to Jan. 13.
Basque declined comment on behalf of himself and Rob Scoffield, president of Windturbine Construction Team.
OSHA charges carry a maximum fine of $250,000 or a six-month jail sentence.
Meahan-Carson declined comment for WorkSafeNB on the charges or its investigation, citing the court case. Richards Transport also declined a request for comment.
Pellerin said Natural Forces could not comment on the charges but said it is in “active” discussions with WorkSafeNB to support its investigation and to advance its own internal investigation, as well as for “recommended corrective actions and responses.”
When asked how she felt about the charges, Brawn said “the accident didn’t feel right.”
“It’s hard because my brother would have done whatever he was told,” she said. “We know that morning he was told to do something that resulted in him dying.”
