After nearly 2 1/2 years of legal confrontation and human anguish, the case of tire technician Denis Chabot, crushed beneath the semi-truck he was servicing in 2011, ended this morning.

A Yukon territorial court judge handed down a sentence which included hefty financial penalties against a local tire company, fuel company and supervisor, all of whose safety breaches contributed to the 34-year-old Chabot's death, the court has determined.

Integra Tire, North 60 Petro and Frank Taylor face penalties of $48,750, $43,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Judge John Faulkner acknowledged that "all of the defendants claim to be remorseful,” but noted they pleaded not guilty on all charges and "fiercely contested” every accusation.

"They have yet to accept that they had any role (in Chabot's death),” he told the court this morning.

The judge also pointed out that the two businesses had no prior convictions under the relevant legislation and acted promptly to implement the changes required by the Yukon Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Board following the tragedy.

Following the sentencing today, Chabot's former partner Kristy Lerch spoke to the Star from Spain, where she is vacationing.

"I was prepared not to get upset by the numbers,” since they're determined by "factors that have nothing to do with the value of the person who died,” she said.

Lerch is still reeling from the after-effects of that fateful November day.

"It's been hard. It's been really hard.”

She added that she was "frustrated” with the defence for denying all liability in the fatality.

"There were a series of failures ... that led to the tragedy,” Faulkner told the court. "A proper lockout would have prevented this accident.”

He was referring to Integra Tire's failure to have a legally required policy to ensure keys to the ignition remain outside a vehicle until the driver arrives.

Faulkner said in his decision from January the procedure is "designed so that a vehicle cannot be energized or moved when the technician working on it does not expect it” — precisely what happened to Chabot when he was partially under North 60's Kenworth tractor at Integra Tire on Nov. 15, 2011.

North 60, convicted of failing to adequately train a worker in a "walk-around check,” did have a policy for that procedure, but failed to execute it.

"It is one thing to have a policy, and quite another to make it a part of everyday practice,” Faulkner said.

That the truck driver did not walk around the vehicle meant he did not spot the torque wrench leaning against its rear, which likely would have alerted him to the fact that work may not yet have been completed.

Chabot himself was not under the vehicle until right before the driver departed, however.

At a hearing Wednesday, the defence had argued that North 60 bore less responsibility because the accident occurred not at one of its outlets but at Integra Tire.

"In a narrow sense, that is true,” Faulkner conceded.

But "workplace ... and employers' responsibilities in fact extend wherever the truck is sent,” he said. "The failure to do a walk-around check ... cost a chance to break the accident chain.”

The judge also rebutted the defence's argument that Frank Taylor bore little responsibility because he did not cause the tragedy nor create the "hazards.”

"The walk-around is not intended to detect the hazards you make; quite the contrary,” it is intended to catch the hazards "made by others.”

Taylor remained in his vehicle as he saw his North 60 employee get in the semi cab without conducting a walk-around.

"Mr. Taylor sat and watched,” Faulkner summed up.

He also repeated his concession: "No one acted egregiously, and no one bears total responsibility.”

The judge said penalties for safety breaches "must be sufficient to ... create an incentive to comply” so that fines are not merely "the cost of doing business.”

In considering an appropriate sentence, cases involving fatalities are particularly difficult, he noted.

"No sentence will ever restore a lost life.”

He added that regardless of the amount levied, "the court is certainly not saying how much a life is worth.”

For Integra Tire's $48,750 penalty, $20,000 will go to the Northern Safety Network, which offers workplace safety courses and programs.

The judge ordered North 60 to pay the same amount to the network, with the money ideally going to training involving lockout and walk-around procedures.

Taylor's $3,000 fine will go to a charity of the Chabot family's choosing — so that it is "doing more than simply enriching the YTG,” Faulkner added.

Integra Tire was found guilty in January of failing to develop safe, effective lockout procedures or train a worker in them — in this case lockout safeguards.

North 60 and Taylor were each found guilty of failing to adequately train a worker in the safe operation of a semi-truck due to the absence of walk-around checks.

Integra Tire co-owner Paul Bubiak was cleared of all four charges against him.

All charges fell under the territorial Occupational Health and Safety Act.

None were criminal.