October 19, 2018

Bradford company and owner fined $110,000 for worker fall

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Convicted: GMJ Electric Inc., an electrical contracting company, and supervisor, Gino Martignago, Bradford, Ontario.

Location: 27 Fasken Drive in Toronto, where a new office building was being constructed and an existing building was being renovated.

Description of Offence: A worker fell from a ladder and suffered permanent injuries while performing electrical wiring work.

Date of Offence: May 10, 2016.

Date of Conviction: Reasons for judgment released August 23, 2018; sentencing October 16, 2018.

Penalty Imposed:

Following a trial, the company was fined $100,000 and a supervisor was fined $10,000 by Justice of the Peace Mark H. Conacher in Toronto court; Crown Counsel Indira Stewart.
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:

GMJ Electric Inc. was contracted by Santoro Construction Ltd. to carry out all electrical installations for the project. The injured worker was employed by GMJ Electric.
Two workers were tying and labelling electrical wiring in the ceiling of a renovated office area. One worker was working from a 10-foot stepladder and reaching into an area above the grid of a dropped ceiling. The worker fell from the ladder to the floor, suffering permanent injuries.
GMJ Electric was convicted of failing, as an employer, to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the worker, contrary to section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
GMJ Electric was further convicted of failing to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 125(1) of the Construction Projects Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91) were carried out a project, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Specifically, this involved failing to ensure that a scaffold was provided for a worker. A supervisor was also convicted of failing to ensure that a worker works in the manner and with the protective devices, measures and procedures prescribed by section 125(1) of the Construction Projects Regulationcontrary to section 27(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Santoro Construction Inc. was previously convicted of failing, as a constructor, to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 125(1) of the Construction Projects Regulation were carried out at a construction project. That company was fined $90,000 in Toronto court on April 3, 2018.

Source – Ontario Government Newsroom

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