'I don't get any of it': Sask. man calls for changes to how victims of workplace injuries get compensated

SaskPower has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating workplace safety rules, but the victim won't receive any of the money.

"I think they owe me something. It's kind of bulls***," Blayne McKay told journalists outside Prince Albert Provincial Court on Thursday.

More than 60 per cent of McKay's body was burned at a SaskPower site.

McKay was working for Flatlander Scaffolding — a company contracted by SaskPower to do work at the Island Falls Hydroelectric Station.

On May 9, 2022, he was left alone on a high-energy unit to take measurements.

When he put his tape measure in the air, a transformer arched.

"I got electrocuted 110,000 volts and then I burst into flames," McKay told CTV News.

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SaskPower pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations — failing to ensure working conditions are a safe distance from an exposed energized electrical conductor.

"The injuries suffered by McKay were, and are, horrendous," Judge Thomas Healey said, during his sentencing decision on Thursday.

Healey said McKay was not certified to work around electricity, and SaskPower was negligent.

"The result was entirely foreseeable," Healey ruled.

The judge ordered SaskPower to pay a $500,000 fine and $200,000 victim surcharge.

Crown Prosecutor Buffy Rodgers said this makes history in Saskatchewan as the largest fine resulting from an individual workplace injury.

But McKay doesn't get any of that money.

"I don't get any of it, so it's not really benefiting me in any way," McKay said.

Workplace fines are deposited into the government's general revenue fund.

McKay said the only financial support he's received is from the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) — a fraction of his former wage.

Because McKay accepted workers' compensation, he said he's not eligible to receive the victim surcharge or launch a lawsuit.

"I've talked to hundreds of lawyers, there's nothing I can do. I should be able to sue these guys for this, but I'm not allowed to because I accepted WCB," McKay said.

McKay and his wife, Jackie Thoms, want to change the rules around how victims of workplace injuries get compensated.

"We want to change the rules, make it a little more fair. It's workers' compensation, but they seem to be more focused on the employers," Thoms said.

CTV News has contacted WCB for comment and is awaiting a response.

Judge alludes SaskPower fine could have been larger

While Healey sided with the Crown's request of a $500,000 fine, the judge alluded that it could have been higher.

"The maximum fine for offences, such as these, have increased from $500,000 to $1.5 million, if the criteria are met,” Healey told the court.

“Those criteria are met in this case.”

SaskPower must pay the $700,000 total within 90 days.

As McKay and Thoms work to change the guidelines of how victims of workplace injuries get compensated, McKay said his full-time job is recovery.

His family describes him as a fighter, who continues to defy the odds stacked against him.