Workplace Safety and Health is looking into whether workers were at risk of extreme heat exposure the same day a Winnipeg teacher died on a field trip.
Students and staff at John Taylor Collegiate are grieving the loss of a beloved teacher.
The flag outside the school is lowered in memory of Darcee Gosselin.
She collapsed Thursday during a field trip to Spruce Woods Provincial Park.
The St. James-Assiniboia School Division's chief superintendent said supervisors called EMS.
Support services have been brought in to the school.
Gosselin's uncle tells CTV, the family is upset the field trip wasn't cancelled due to high temperatures - around 35 Celsius that day - and believes the heat played a role in her collapse.
The province says Workplace Safety and Health is aware of the fatality.
It's now looking to see if proper measures were implemented the day of the trip.
The province says the Workplace Safety and Health Act mentions employers having to ensure the safety and health of workers but there is nothing in the regulation about monitoring weather conditions.
Autopsy results have yet to confirm a cause of death.
St. James-Assiniboia School Division chief superintendent Brett Lough told CTV Wednesday the division filled out a report about the incident, and Workplace Safety and Health will provide information on improvement.
Lough said the division takes weather into account when students go on field trips. He said staff review a checklist, and weather is one of the items on it.
Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Norm Gould says the union’s primary concern is supporting the teachers right now.
“That was a horrific and traumatic event for family and friends and students, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family,” Gould told CTV Wednesday.
“From our perspective, we are providing support for Darcee’s colleagues. We will continue to liaise with the division as the facts emerge about this tragedy.”
Gould said he couldn’t comment on the field trip specifically, saying MTS is still working to gather the facts.
- With files from Beth Macdonell