October 8, 2019 3:30 P.M.
Convicted: Skyjack Inc., 287 Speedvale Avenue West in Guelph, a manufacturer of elevated material handling equipment such as boom trucks and scissor lifts.
Location of Workplace: The company’s workplace is at 201 Woodlawn Road West, Guelph, Ontario.
Description of Offence: A worker suffered a critical injury after falling from a boom truck.
Date of Offence: August 22, 2018.
Date of Conviction: October 4, 2019.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea, Skyjack Inc. was fined $45,000 by Justice of the Peace Michael A. Cuthbertson in provincial court in Guelph; Crown Counsel Tom Schneider.
- 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:
- On August 22, 2018, a worker for Skyjack Inc. was removing a flange pin from the boom of a Skyjack boom truck at the company’s Woodlawn Road location. The worker was in a kneeling position on top of the cowling, which is the cover of the body of the truck and about seven feet above ground level.
- The cowling is made of smooth fiberglass and slopes toward the boom, and is only 21 inches wide.
- The worker was using pry bars to release the flange pin when the pin gave way, causing the worker to fall backwards off the cowling. The worker suffered critical injuries.
- Skyjack as an employer neither provided a suitable and safe platform upon which the worker could carry out the work nor did it take other measures to protect the worker from the danger of falling.
- The defendant did not take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act