A 53-year-old Saskatoon man died April 6 while working with a cistern pump at a dairy operation near Rosthern, Sask.
Saskatoon Fire and Protective Services battalion chief Jim Lindsay said the service’s confined space rescue team was called to perform a rescue between 4:30 and 5 p.m.
While en route, he received word from the Rosthern volunteer fire department that rescue was no longer required.
“We went out there but weren’t able to do anything,” he said.
“I know the cable on the winch broke, but I don’t know if that had to do with his fall or what. I don’t know if the winch was hooked to him or the pump that he was trying to replace, or service, whatever they were doing.”
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RCMP spokesperson sgt. Carole Raymond said the victim was a contractor who was inside the container to fix a pump. She described the manure holding tank as about five metres deep with an almost metre wide round hole at the top.
“He was working inside with another fellow when there was problems with the pump and it caused the backfill to occur and he was unable to get out.”
Lindsay said accidents in underground areas are common as people try to do their own maintenance.
“We’re not saying this guy was trained or not; we have no idea,” he said.
“Our message is for people to understand the dangers of those types of containers. Even open cribbed wells that people are sometimes going down to see if they can get a better water supply are succumbing to the fumes in there too. It’s not a fresh air environment underground,” he said.
“With this case, with all the defecation and stuff in there, there’s heavy levels of ammonia and all sorts of things, cyanide maybe, who knows.”
Occupational health and safety is investigating the accident.
