Employer failed ‘to ensure that a portable ladder extends at least one metre above any platform, roof or other landing to which the ladder is used as a means of access’
A Saskatoon home construction company has been fined $8,000 after a worker suffered a serious fall, in a case that reinforces for occupational health and safety professionals the enforcement risk of failing to meet portable ladder access requirements under Saskatchewan's workplace safety regulations.
OJ's Home Solutions Inc. pleaded guilty on June 2, 2026, in Saskatoon Provincial Court to one violation of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2020, the provincial government announced in a release dated June 15, 2026.
The company was charged under clause 16-6(2)(d) of the regulations. As an employer, it failed "to ensure that a portable ladder extends at least one metre above any platform, roof or other landing to which the ladder is used as a means of access," the release states, a failure that resulted in a serious injury to a worker.
The court imposed a fine of $5,714.29, plus a victim fine surcharge of $2,285.71, for a total of $8,000. One charge was stayed.
How the incident unfolded
The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred on June 4, 2024, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A worker was seriously injured after falling from the second floor to the basement through an open stairwell at a new home construction site.
The roughly two-year gap between the 2024 incident and the 2026 guilty plea is consistent with the timelines OHS professionals often see in Saskatchewan prosecutions, where investigation, charge approval and court scheduling can extend well beyond the date of injury.
The combination of an open stairwell and a ladder access point at an active residential build reflects a hazard profile familiar to safety practitioners in construction, where falls remain among the most common causes of serious workplace injury.
The Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety "works with employers and workers to eliminate workplace injuries and illnesses through education, intervention and enforcement," the government said.
