Convicted: Thomson Construction Ltd., 6904 London Line, Watford, Ontario
Location of Workplace: Thirteen Mile Road, Township of Middlesex Centre, Ontario
Date of Offence: November 4, 2015
Description of Offence: A worker fell from the roof of a barn under construction to the ground, suffering critical injuries. Under Ontario’s health and safety laws the worker should have been protected from falling with a properly-used fall arrest system.
Date of Conviction: October 2, 2017, in London, Ontario, by Justice of the Peace Robert J. Lewin; Crown Counsel Indira Stewart
Penalty Imposed:
- Thomson Construction Ltd. was fined $50,000 after pleading guilty to the offence of failing to ensure that the measures and procedures provided by Section 26.1(2) of the Construction Projects Regulation/Ontario Regulation 213/91, were carried out in the workplace, contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Background:
- Two workers employed by Thomson Construction Ltd. were constructing a hog barn. On November 4, 2015 they were strapping roof trusses on the barn.
- While strapping the trusses, one of the workers stepped on a defective strap. The strap broke and the worker fell from the roof to the ground, a distance of about 6.7 metres (about 22 feet). The worker suffered critical injuries.
- The worker was not protected by any method of fall protection.
- There was no fall arrest system to protect the worker from falling. Although wearing a harness affixed with a lanyard, there was no anchor point or lifeline on the roof to which the lanyard could have been connected.
- Section 26.1(2) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 requires that workers exposed to falling more than three metres be adequately protected by an appropriate method of fall protection where it is not practicable to install a guardrail system. – Ministry of Labour