An Ontario company that failed to ensure their employee’s safety will pay $150,000, plus a victim fee over an incident that killed one worker and injured another.
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Toronto’s Stacey Electric Company Limited will pay out $150,000 for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after one worker was killed and another worker was injured.
In December 2010, two Stacey Electric workers were repairing a broken beacon at a railway underpass on Bathurst Street near Dupont Street in Toronto. The beacon was on a cement median between four lanes of traffic. One worker was in the bucket of a boom truck that had been extended over a lane of traffic next to the median. The other worker was standing on the median assisting the worker in the bucket. There were no traffic control measures such as signs or traffic cones in place. While the workers were repairing the beacon, a bus struck the boom attached to the bucket holding one of the workers. The worker on the median was struck and killed by the bus and the bucket as it fell to the ground. The other worker was also injured.
See also: Onerous OHSA duties see more than $200k in fines
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that there was no traffic protection plan in place during the repair operation.
Stacey Electric Company Limited pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that their workers prepare a traffic protection plan for their protection.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Donald Buchanan. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25% 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.
