Worker fatally injured by falling concrete block
Ontario employer Limen Group Const. (2019) Ltd. and two of its supervisors have been fined a total of $625,000 after a worker died on the job.
Following a trial at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, the employer was ordered to pay $600,000 in fines, while the supervisors were fined $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.
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.
The fatal incident occurred on December 14, 2020, when the company was subcontracted to perform formwork on a multi-storey condominium construction project.
Waste concrete from the below-ground parking levels had to be lifted to ground level using a crane. To facilitate this, workers shovelled the waste concrete into wooden bins that had rebar placed at the bottom.
Once the concrete dried, the embedded rebar was used as a hoisting point for the crane. However, the rebar was not designed to be used for hoisting over long distances—only for a few feet.
One of the concrete blocks being hoisted in this manner fell while suspended above the construction site, fatally injuring a worker.
According to the Ontario government, “the company failed, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 172(1) of Ontario Regulation 213 were carried out at a workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It also failed to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the act.”
Meanwhile, the two supervisors “failed to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to section 27(2)(c) of the act.”
Related regulations
Section 172(1) of Ontario Regulation 213 states that a container, sling or similar device for rigging or hoisting an object, including its fittings and attachments shall be suitable for its intended use.
Meanwhile, section 25(1)(c) of the OHSA reads: an employer shall ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace.
Section 25(2)(h) of the act notes that “without limiting the strict duty imposed by subsection (1), an employer shall take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
Lastly, section 27(2)(c) of the act states that Without limiting the duty imposed by subsection (1), a supervisor shall, take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
