Teenager's death on tugboat due to lack of training

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Wednesday COVID-19 update

Island Health says two of the four COVID-19 deaths reported this month are related to the outbreak at the Chartwell Malaspina long term care home in Nanaimo. There have been seven residents and one staff member who tested positive for the virus since the outbreak was declared two days after Christmas.

Meanwhile, there are 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the Island Health region today, bringing our active case count to 183. Province-wide, there are 500 new cases and there have been 14 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Coroners Report: teenager’s death due to lack of training

A Nanaimo teenager was killed on the job because of inadequate training, according to a coroner's report, released today. 18-year-old Aidan Webber died while working on a tugboat near Port Hardy in March 2019. He was crushed between the hull of a tugboat and a stanchion barrier, as the tugboat was docking. The coroner's report concluded a number of workplace safety violations by his employer, Sea Roamer Services, contributed to Webber's death. It said, "the training that had been provided to Mr. Webber was informal in nature and did not provide specific guidelines for docking safely." Webber was an accomplished BMX rider, who won Canada's BMX championship for junior men in 2018. He also represented Canada at the world championships in 2016.

Word on the Street is…

CHLY is joining Literacy Central Vancouver Island's "Word on the Street" Project. Starting this week, copies of our news update can be read on Literacy's "Bulletin Board." The "Bulletin Board" hangs in the window of Well Read Books on Commercial Street and is accessible to all. The group's adult literacy outreach coordinator, Rhiannon, says the idea came to fruition because of the pandemic.

"The Bulletin Board is a feature of that program that's dedicated as a communications space and a creative space for homeless individuals and other people who don't have regular access to the internet. Particularly since the beginning of COVID-19, at which time so many services shut down, including libraries and other points where people might be able to get on a public computer."—Rhiannon, Literacy Central Vancouver Island Adult Literacy Outreach Coordinator.

Besides news, the bulletin board includes event posters, maps to social services, creative writing and a weekly joke.

VIRL launches SOLARO

Speaking of literacy, the Vancouver Island Regional Library is helping students from grades 3 to 12 with their homework. It's launched a new, online resource called SOLARO. SOLARO is aligned with the BC school curriculum and provides practice tests along with study materials and can be accessed with your library card.