A worker fell 21 feet to the ground sustaining injuries while working on a project to construct a high-rise condominium building at 128 King Street North, Waterloo on the 10th of February, 2021.

Last year, CTN King Inc. was developing a construction project and retained MTN Construction Inc. to provide the concrete formwork at the project.

MTN Construction Inc., head office at 2441 Doral Drive, Innisfil, Ontario, carrying on business as a concrete formwork contractor for the construction industry. 

According to an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development determined that while MTN had a written formwork procedure, workers had not been specifically trained on this written procedure and were not aware there was a specific written procedure, although they were aware that bracing was required.

In any event, the procedure did not contain any specific procedure for bracing formwork. In particular, while it was MTN’s usual practice to install a shoring post to brace a form in one direction and a 2″x4″ piece of lumber to brace the other direction, there was no specific procedure requiring this to be done. 

In addition, the formwork engineering drawings did not include any information on how forms should be braced. 

MTN Construction Inc. pleaded guilty plea in provincial offences court in Kitchener and was convicted on 19th of April, 2021. The said company was fined $60,000 by Justice of the Peace Laura Y. Gorczynski Plate; Crown Counsel Judy L. Chan.

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.

See Ontario Government press release here