The Yukon government’s agriculture branch is reviewing its health and safety program for livestock control and capture in the wake of a worker’s death and a $5,000 fine.

The Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board has issued two fines, including a $750 levy to one of the branch’s contractors, following a 10-month investigation into the death of Arnold Johnson last January.

“We’ve been given some instructions by WCB on what they would like to see, and we will look at that and try to make changes in accordance with that to ensure that both our staff and the contract employees are safe on the job,” agriculture branch spokesman Tony Hill said this morning.

“This was a tough year for everybody after this incident. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of the victim.”

In January 2014, Johnson, 57, was helping a contracted livestock control officer round up feral horses near Kusawa Lake when a horse became tangled in a metal fence panel. The panel failed at a joining hinge, knocking Johnson over. He struck his head on the ground and the horse rolled over him.

Johnson died in hospital the next day.

The health and safety board found that the branch violated the Yukon Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations by failing to establish a complete occupational health and safety program.

The contractor, the board stated, failed to properly assess the job’s risks and provide appropriate personal protective equipment.

Hill said the branch has a comprehensive safety program in place – and did before Johnson’s death – but the onus was on contractors to follow safe practices.

The branch’s contracts stated that workers must have an account with the health and safety board and follow health and safety regulations.

“The report from WCB says that they want to see something more comprehensive,” Hill said.

The capture program – which rounds up feral horses and livestock that can pose a risk to public safety – was suspended last year when the health and safety board served it with a stop-work notice.

“Now that we have these recommendations (from the board), we’re going to follow up to see how we can deliver the program in the future,” Hill said.

“What would be required for us to start the program up again would be a whole safety program developed around the capture and control of livestock.”

That might mean a contractor would draw up a safety plan and present it to the branch.

“We’re not experts in that area,” Hill said. “That’s why we contract – for that expertise.

“They would have to provide us with a safety program approved by a third-party expert, I believe, in order for that work to commence again.”

In addition to hiring one livestock control officer and two to three pounds keepers on contract, the branch also hires contractors to run its mobile abattoir, he said.

The officer rounds up errant livestock or feral horses, and pounds keepers hold the animals until their owners can be found or until they’re auctioned off.

The capture program began in 2011, and has been “fairly active” from Whitehorse to Champagne, Hill said. It’s based on public complaints.

When the branch receives a report that feral horses are running around on the highway, for instance, it will dispatch an officer to round them up.

“We’ve taken measures to try to keep the public safe and keep the horses off the roadway,” Hill said.

Captured feral horses are tested for disease. If they’re healthy, they’ll be auctioned off. If they’re not, they’ll be put down. If the animals are domesticated, the branch attempts to seek out their owners.