Convicted: Manoaka Developments, Inc., carrying on business as Dolphin Fiberglass Pools Canada, 15 Riverside Drive in Trenton, Ontario K8V 5P8, a company that manufactures fiberglass pools.
Location of Workplace: 15 Riverside Drive in Trenton, Ontario.
Description of Offence: A worker suffered a fatal injury while performing duties in the outside storage yard at the Trenton facility.
Date of Offence: September 29, 2020.
Date of Conviction: October 29, 2021.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea in Provincial Offenses Act Court, Belleville, Manoaka Developments, Inc., was fined $75,000 by Justice of the Peace Deanne Chappelle; Crown Counsel, Giuseppe Ferraro.
- 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 September 29, 2020, a worker employed by Manoaka Developments, Inc., was performing duties in the outside storage yard of the main building of the company in Trenton.
- The worker was operating a motorized forklift.
- The worker drove the forklift around a sharp 90-degree corner at a high rate of speed.
- This caused the forklift to tip on its side, and resulted in a fatal injury.
- An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development determined that the worker was not wearing restraining equipment (a seat belt) when the incident occurred.
- Manoaka Developments, Inc. plead guilty to committing the offence of failing to provide information and/or instruction and/or supervision to the worker regarding the safe operation of a forklift, including the use of restraining equipment such as a seat belt, in contravention of section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O., 1990, c.O.1, as amended.