Employer admitted to storing racks-related error
Two Alberta residential construction companies have been fined a combined $250,000 after a worker was seriously injured on a Calgary site.
Excel Management Limited Partnership and Benchmark Cribbing Inc. each pleaded guilty on June 2 in the Calgary Court of Justice to one count under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, the Government of Alberta said.
Excel Management, as prime contractor, admitted failing to ensure workers were adequately trained to work in a healthy and safe manner. Three other counts against it, Excel G.P. Ltd. and Excel Homes Limited Partnership were withdrawn.
Benchmark Cribbing, as an employer, admitted failing to ensure that storage racks sat on firm foundations able to support the load. The Crown withdrew three further counts and stayed proceedings against a third defendant.
The incident and penalties
The charges arose from a Dec. 16, 2023 incident at a new residential development in Calgary. Workers were installing forms for a foundation when a cage holding panels fell, striking and pinning one worker and causing serious injuries.
Each company was ordered to pay $125,000, inclusive of the 20 per cent victim fine surcharge. The Excel-side fine was payable immediately, while Benchmark Cribbing's is due by Dec. 23, 2026.
Both the companies and the Crown have up to 30 days to appeal the conviction or penalty. The province does not release sentencing documents, which are available through the Calgary Court of Justice.
Alberta's OHS laws "set basic health and safety rules for workplaces across the province," the Government of Alberta said, and charges "may be laid when failing to follow the rules results in a fatality or serious injury."
The OHS Act also permits a creative sentence option, directing funds that would otherwise be paid as fines to a project that promotes workplace health and safety. Victim fine surcharges do not apply to those payments.
