As reported in The London Free Press, four Southwestern Ontario men who died from injuries suffered from falling off roofs are tragic, falls remain one of the leading causes of workplace deaths in the province.

Ontario is holding two coroner’s inquests examining the circumstances that led to these four fatal falls while on the job.

One inquest begins in Chatham Monday to investigate the workplace deaths of Michael Maukonen, 19, of Windsor, William Swan, 56, of Inwood, near Petrolia and John Janssens, 73, of Wallaceburg, all of whom died of injuries after falling while working as roofers. Another inquest begins in London on June 10, regarding the death of Michael J. Ikeno, 28, of London, who died after falling from a roof during a construction project.

Deaths from falls accounted for a majority of Ontario workplace fatalities in the construction industry last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labour.

Enzo Garritano, president and chief executive of the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association, a ministry-designated safe workplace association, said the Labour Ministry brought in a training standard in 2015 for working at heights that needed to be completed by 2017, even for workers with previous training.

“Companies still have an obligation to do specific training according to what work they do on site,” Garritano said.

For roofers, he said companies must train employees on the particular safety systems used on their sites, including any preventative steps and fall protections.

Garritano said there are two basic elements for safety at heights, the use of safety measures and supervision to ensure those measures are being used.

In 2017, the ministry reported six deaths by falls out of 16 fatalities. There were five fall-related deaths out of 14 workplace fatalities in 2016, and nine falling deaths out of 16 workplace fatalities in 2015.

Gord Vanasse, owner of ABC Roofing in Windsor, said safety regulations imposed by the labour ministry are there “for the safety of the employees.”

But, he acknowledged, it is not easy to follow the rules.

Keep reading in The London Free Press

 

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