Witnesses offered more insight this week into the character of Denis Chabot and the events around his death at a local tire shop two years ago.

The 34-year-old employee of Integra Tire died after an accident where a semi truck ran over him in the garage's workshop.

Two Whitehorse residents — Frank Taylor and Paul Bubiak — and their employers — North 60 Petro and Integra Tire — went on trial this week in territorial court.

The two supervisors and both businesses face a total of 14 charges related to improper training, which supposedly led to the fatal incident on Nov. 14, 2011.

Phillip Harry, one of 27 expected witnesses, took the stand Thursday morning for examination by the Crown.

The Integra Tire salesman began work there about 10 years ago, starting off as a "gas jockey” alongside Chabot.

"He was a very easy, fun-loving, happy guy,” Harry recalled. "His work ethic was second to none.”

Harry branched into sales and Chabot, originally from Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, became a technician.

"He was very thorough in his jobs, the way he went about things ... he was quick to point out safety flaws to others,” Harry said.

In its line of questioning, the Crown may have been seeking to demonstrate Chabot's safety diligence and the accused parties' implied failures on the job.

Chabot had been putting slits in the tires of the semi truck to give it better traction on ice and snow.

After completing the work, he told his supervisor, Bubiak, the tri-axle vehicle was ready for pick-up, saying: "‘I'm putting my tools away, you can call the driver,' or something to that effect,” Harry recalled.

Bubiak acknowledged this and went to the shop, presumably to start the truck, Harry said. Chabot said he would do a final check on the vehicle before the owner came by for it.

When an employee arrived from North 60, he found the vehicle idling, climbed into it and drove out of the garage.

Chabot was partially under the truck and suffered fatal injuries when it moved.

The driver realized what had happened only when he looked in the rearview mirror and saw Chabot lying on the ground.

Harry himself was not working in the shop and said he would not have noticed any safety flaws that day.

He was putting away supplies a few minutes later when the North 60 employee came into the office.

"He said, ‘I think I drove over this guy, he's out there on the ground.... We went out the back to see Denis lying there.

"He was laying face-down ... his head in a pool of blood ... and his fist was clenched, like he had something in his hand,” Harry said.

"There was blood coming out his ears.”

A torque wrench and hydraulic jacks lay near the entrance to the shop. Harry suggested they may have been moved.

He called 911: "I told them one of our workers just got ran over; get down here right now.”

Harry has worked at "every tire shop in Whitehorse,” and said Integra Tire is "one of the safer places I've worked, for sure.”

He said workers there undergo multiple levels of safety training and usually adhere to safety procedures.

Wayne Smyth, a safety officer with the territorial workers' compensation board, took the stand for the second day in a row Wednesday.

A defence lawyer cross-examined him on what he noted on arrival at the scene that autumn day. He asked Smith about the fact there were no wheel chocks securing the truck in the shop.

"Chocks are the first on and the last off on the job,” the lawyer said, referring to wedges placed under the wheels of a vehicle to keep it in place.

"When the chocks are off, the job is done — you could infer that from this mantra,” he said.

Smyth tentatively agreed.

The lawyer also pointed out there was no cone in front of the semi to alert people to ongoing work.

Smyth then acknowledged there were no tags attached to the steering wheel that would suggest work was not finished or that the truck should not be moved.

Even once the vehicle was started, there would have been time to get out from under the truck, the defence argued.

"True, depending on what one was doing under the tractor,” Smyth said.

He confirmed he had written in an Occupational Health and Safety document that there would have been sufficient time, unless the person were "unconscious or deceased.”

Taylor is facing two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act:

• that, as a supervisor, he failed to adequately train a worker in the safe operation of the truck; and

• that he failed to ensure that an equipment operator not move this equipment when his view of the workplace is obstructed.

Bubiak is charged with the same offence related to training.

He is also facing three similar charges to his employer, Integra Tire, for allegedly failing to immobilize the truck and control it when it was shut down for maintenance work.

Integra Tire is facing two additional charges related to its safety process: failing to develop safe, effective lockout procedures, and failing to explain those procedures verbally and in writing.

North 60 is facing three charges.

Officials claim the company failed to:

• adequately train a worker in the safe operation of the truck;

• ensure a worker had demonstrated competency to a supervisor; and

• ensure the operator did not move the truck until precautions were taken to protect workers from injury.

No criminal charges have been laid.

Taylor and Bubiak would not face jail time if convicted of any charges.