Worker falls to the ground and sustains fatal injury
Ralston Metal Products Limited and one of its workers, Louie Soligo, have been fined a combined $195,000 after a truck driver died in a fall from mobile equipment at the company's Guelph workplace, Ontario's Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said in a July 7, 2026, court bulletin.
Justice of the Peace Justin Davis imposed the penalties on June 11, 2026, in Guelph Provincial Offences Court, following guilty pleas from both parties. Ralston Metal Products Limited was fined $175,000, and Soligo was fined $20,000. Crown Counsel Katie Krafchick prosecuted the case.
The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as required under the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial fund that assists victims of crime.
Incident details
The fatality occurred on Oct. 7, 2024, at Ralston Metal's workplace at 50 Watson Road South in Guelph, according to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. A truck driver arrived at the site to pick up an electrical enclosure and parked inside the shipping and receiving area.
After the enclosure was loaded onto the truck using a forklift, the driver climbed onto the truck bed to secure the load. He later asked for assistance getting down and was approximately 51 inches above the ground at the time.
Soligo used a Raymond order picker, mobile equipment designed for a standing operator, to assist the driver. He positioned the order picker next to the truck. The driver then stepped onto the order picker's platform and fork area while Soligo turned to operate the controls and move the equipment.
The driver fell to the ground during this operation and sustained a fatal injury, according to the bulletin.
Charges
Ralston Metal Products Limited was charged as an employer with failing to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed by section 54(1)(c) of Ontario Regulation 851 were carried out at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Soligo was charged as a worker with failing to work in compliance with section 54(1)(c) of Ontario Regulation 851, contrary to section 28(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Section 54(1)(c) requires that mobile equipment be used to transport a person, other than the operator, only when that person is seated in a permanently installed seat.
A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the order picker had been used to transport a person who was not seated in a permanently installed seat, as the regulation requires.
