An Alberta community has dedicated their rebuilt hockey rink to a young worker who was killed on the job, according to a report from the Canadian OH&S News.
The Josh Malysh Rink of Dreams, just outside Devon, Alberta, about 40 kilometers southwest of Edmonton, was officially opened last month. Josh's father, Charles Malysh, said about 500 people came out for the opening. (WCxKit)
"The old one was falling apart. My son had spent a lot of time there playing shinny with his friends, and when we approached the idea to do a park or something as a memorial, [his friends and family] wanted to do something where Josh spent a lot of time, which was at that rink," said Malysh.
The new rink was built by a crew of mostly friends and family using donated materials, according to Malysh, after the old outdoor rink was demolished about a month ago.
Josh Malysh's friends filled the concrete pad that the ice will sit on with mementos of his life. His goalie sticks were buried in the concrete under the nets, his old jersey under centre ice and his trophies were placed in a container and buried as well.
Josh Malysh was working with Sureway Construction in southwest Edmonton, installing water and sewer lines in a new subdivision. As the crew was lowering a concrete sewer pipe into the trench he was working in, it swung around unexpectedly, pinning the 21-year-old worker against the wall of the trench and fatally crushing him, said Barrie Harrison, a spokesman for Alberta Employment and Immigration.
A stop work order was issued after the incident, but OH&S charges have not been laid, Harrison said.
Charles Malysh also works for Sureway, as a project manager. He wasn't on site at the time of the accident, but says he was there when his son was pulled out of the trench. (WCxKit)
"What they think is you are safe at home, you're safe at work, the place where an accident is going to happen is going to and from. In this case it was an accident at work and I'm trying to show them accidents happen all over the place," said Malysh. "You have to be safe all the time."
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