Nova Scotia Power among companies in court facing labour charges in 2020 workplace death

Nova Scotia Power was one of three companies in provincial court Monday facing multiple Occupational Health and Safety Act charges after a worker drowned in 2020 at one of the utility's hydroelectric dams.

Twenty-six year-old Andrew Gnazdowsky’s obituary from October of 2020 describes a vibrant young man, building a life for himself with a new job and plans to get engaged.

But Gnazdowsky drowned while working for a subcontractor at the site of Nova Scotia Power's hydroelectric dam at Marshall Falls, near Sheet Harbour, before those plans were realized.

Ever since, his sister has been on her own quest for answers.

“It's disheartening that it took me to put my grief on the side,” says Nicole Gnazdowsky, “to try to fix this problem, that nobody else was looking at.”

Almost three years after his death, three companies -- Nova Scotia Power, along with Brunswick Engineering and Consulting and Gemtec Consulting Engineers And Scientists Ltd. -- are all in provincial court facing multiple Occupational Health and Safety Act charges, for “failing to comply with a code of practice.”

The question is whether proper company safety protocols were presented and followed when a floating sonar rig operated by remote control, known as an ARV, malfunctioned while surveying waters near the Marshall Falls dam.

Monday’s testimony included a former employee with Brunswick Engineering, the same company Gnazdowsky was working for at the time of his death.