Farm death of boy shocks members of Alberta Hutterite colony

A 10-year-old boy killed at a Hutterite colony inAlberta had just finished cleaning up some hog barns and was driving
a forklift on a gravel road when the machine toppled into the ditch,says his grandfather.

"He somehow looked back or whatever and got too close to thegrading," Mike Stahl, manager of the Lougheed colony near Killamsoutheast of Edmonton, said Monday.

Joseph Stahl was pinned underneath the forklift, he said.

Witnesses performed first aid but the boy had serious injuriesand died at the scene.

The death comes as new legislation is being considered in Albertafor farm and ranch workers, although there are no details yet on howit might better protect children.

RCMP said the boy, who died Saturday, was familiar with theforklift he was driving.

Stahlconfirmed his grandson had operated the machine before. Hedeclined to talk further about Joseph, explaining that the communitywill be mourning in private.

Community tomournin private

He did say the boy's death has been a shock to the 80 people wholive in the close-knit colony.

Everyone there knew his grandson, Stahl said.

Last month, three sisters were killed on their family's farm inwest-central Alberta. Mounties said Catie Bott, 13, and 11-year-oldtwins Dara and Jana suffocated in a truck loaded with canola.

The province has released statistics showing that there have beeneight other deaths on farms so far this year, including anotherchild.

There was also a child among 17 people killed on Albertafarms in 2014.

Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada without any form oflabour relations coverage for farm and ranch workers and one offour provinces that doesn't protect them with mandatory workers'compensation.

Last week, the NDP government introduced legislation that wouldbring labour and employment standards, occupational health andsafety rules and workers' compensation to the agriculture sector.

New farm-labour rules

Details on how the law might protect children are to bedetermined following public consultations over the next few weeks.

Jobs Minister Lori Sigurdson said her heart goes out to thefamily of the boy killed on the weekend. There can be no workplaceinvestigation into his death, she said, because the proposed lawhasn't yet passed.

"Until the exemptions are lifted from occupational health andsafety, which will start on Jan. 1, we don't have authority to goonto that farm," she said.

"But we are meeting very shortly with industry and farm andranch owners to talk about how we can prevent this type of thingfrom happening in the future."

She wouldn't say whether she wants to see age limits put on whatjobs and farm chores children can do.

Glen Blahey with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association inWinnipeg said children should be involved in somefarm work but notall.

They lack size, cognitive capabilities and experience, he said.

"There needs to be an understanding that children are notminiature adults, that they do have limitations.

"Parents, I think, they tend to forget that."