A Hamilton construction business has been charged $200,000 after a supervisor was killed on the job while operating a mini-excavator that fell over in an underground pipe. 

The Ministry of Labour says the mini-excavator didn’t have a cab or screen, which is required. If it did, the ministry said, this might have protected the worker. The person died on June 21, 2018. 

McNally Construction Inc., whose head office is located at 1855 Barton Street East, had a guilty plea in the provincial offences court. It’s a business in the construction and tunnelling industry. 

The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which is required by the Provincial Offences Act. The money goes to a government fund to assist victims of crime. 

This is the second offence for McNally Construction Inc., according to the ministry. It says a young worker died in 2013, and there was a fine of $170,000. 

For this incident, which happened in 2018, a construction crew was working on a project in Hamilton and doing work in an underground pipe.

The supervisor was operating a mini-excavator, which had been lowered down a shaft and into the pipe. The pipe measured 1.8 meters in diameter, according to an Ontario news bulletin. 

The ministry said that before it was lowered down, the “tip over protection system” — TOPS — was removed. They don’t know who removed it or when. 

The TOPS protects the mini-excavator from tipping over, and can protect whoever is operating it from overhead hazards. 

The ministry says the supervisor decided to operate the mini-excavator. At some point, the front tracks of the machine lifted, and pinned the worker between the top of the inside of the pipe and the machine. He died from his injuries. 

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