Worker injured by swinging Peri box from tower crane
Quebec-based construction company Bellai Alliance Floor Finishing has been fined $65,000 after one of its workers was injured in the workplace.
Following a trial in the Provincial Offences Court in Ottawa, the employer was also ordered to pay 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 incident occurred on Oct. 25, 2022, when the company was subcontracted on a high-rise project in Ottawa that involved the use of a tower crane and formwork equipment.
On that day, a worker from the company was helping to hoist a Peri box filled with formwork components up to the upper slab of the building.
As the load was lifted, it swung toward and struck the worker, resulting in a critical injury.
A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Skills and Development investigation determined that the company failed to ensure that a tag line/guide rope was used to prevent the peri box from swinging in an uncontrolled motion.
“Bellai Alliance Floor Finishing Ltd. failed to ensure that the measures and procedures required by section 179(1) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were carried out at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Ontario Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
Section 179(1) of the regulation states: If a worker may be endangered by the rotation or uncontrolled motion of a load being hoisted by a crane or other hoisting device, one or more guide ropes or tag lines shall be used to prevent the rotation or uncontrolled motion.
Meanwhile, section 25(1)(c) of the OHSA states that an employer shall ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace.
The constructor on the project, Claridge Homes Inc., pleaded guilty and was fined $55,000 in relation to this incident in August 2024.
