Recent cases show there is still a significant amount of violations that lead to employee deaths or critical injuries
Health and safety is an important consideration for employers and failure to take proper precautions can result in financial loss for employers in addition to the potential tragic loss of life of employees. Recent convictions of Ontario employers have shown the kinds of fines employers can face if a health and safety violation results in death or serious injury to an employee. Here is a brief rundown on a handful of recent Ontario cases where employers were convicted and fined for health and safety violations that killed or seriously injuried an employee.
Employer must pay $200,000 after tipped cart of cut glass kills worker
On Sept. 19, 2007, a worker for Highrise Window Technologies, a manufacturer of windows for high rise buildings based in Concord, Ont., was cutting glass, loading it onto a cart and moving it to a washing machine. One cart was overloaded with glass and when the worker tried to move it, a rear castor broke. Cut glass fell off the cart and pinned the worker against the cutting machine, killing him.
An investigation by the Ministry of Labour found the overloading of the cart put excess stress on the rear castors, causing one to break and tipping the load. Highrise was charged with failing, as an employer, to ensure the glass was moved from the cutting machine to the washing machine in a manner that wouldn’t endanger workers, which violated Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).
Highrise pleaded guilty in an April 2009 hearing and the Ontario Court of Justice fined the company $160,000 plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge.
Improperly secured truck crushed mechanic
TDL Spring and Suspension Specialists was a company in Ottawa that repaired trucks and buses. On June 7, 2007, a mechanic in TDL’s shop was repairing the valve stem on the rear tire of a recycling truck. To gain access to the tire, a side bin on the truck was elevated. However, the bin wasn’t braced to prevent movement and it accidentally released, crushing the worker between the bin and the tire. The worker was eventually freed, but died from his injuries on the way to the hospital.
By failing to ensure the truck’s side bin was properly secured against movement, TDL was found to have violated regulatory requirements to secure temporarily elevated equipment from falling. The bin did have blocking pins to prevent it from falling when raised, but these weren’t used.
In May 2009, the Ontario Court of Justice found TDL guilty of violating safety regulations, leading to the worker’s death. TDL was ordered to pay a $120,000 plus the victim fine surcharge for a total of $150,000.
Employee working alone without proper instruction killed
A worker for Toronto garbage hauling company Wasteco was working alone on a truck at a company garage on Nov. 20, 2007. Wasteco had written instructions for blocking the hoist rails on trucks when they were in the raised position, but the worker did not follow the instructions and didn’t appear to have been using them. The rails came down and crushed the worker between them and the truck’s frame, killing him.
The Ministry of Labour determined Wasteco hadn’t provided the proper information, instruction or supervision to the solitary worker to protect his health and safety and charged him with violating the OHSA. Wasteco was fined $85,000 for the violation. The victim surcharge added for the worker’s death put Wasteco on the hook for more than
$100,000 in total.
Serious injuries also lead to big fines and victim surcharges
Employers involved in an accident where an employee was not killed but seriously injured also faced large fines. Two Quebec construction companies, one the employer and the other to whom the employer had contracted the work, were ordered to pay more than $250,000 total after an incident in Cornwall, Ont., seriously injured a worker.
On Aug. 20, 2007, a construction worker for Montreal-based Construction Bao was on a scaffold applying stucco to the side of a building. The worker tried to lower himself 13 metres to the ground with a rope and pulley system, but lost his balance and fell. The worker was paralysed from his injuries.
The rope and pulley system was designed to move materials and the Ministry of Labour found it and the scaffold didn’t allow for the easy movement of workers between the building’s outside, inside and the ground. There were no stairs, runways, ramps or ladder, which violated the OHSA’s requirements to allow access to and from a work area located above ground level.
