Canadian Occupational Safety

www.thesafetymag.com/ca 7 CONSTRUCTION FIRM SLAPPED WITH $60K FINE ONTARIO-BASED MTN Construction Inc. was fined $60,000 plus a 25 per cent surcharge after one of its workers was injured from falling from a height of 21 feet to the ground. The incident took place on Feb. 10, 2020 in a project to construct a high-rise condominium building at 128 King Street North, Waterloo. CTN King Inc. was developing a construction project and retained MTN Construction Inc. to provide the concrete formwork. On that day, the concrete work at the project had progressed to the third floor of the building. That morning, two MTN workers were installing column formwork for the walls on the perimeter of the third floor. The forms were made to be installed on reinforcing steel (rebar) already in place. In certain places, the rebar was bent 90 degrees at the top, requiring the formwork to be split into two L-shaped forms in order to fit around the rebar. Workers had installed between 50 and 150 similar columns, some of which were of the same L-shaped type. The forms were lifted into place by a tower crane. One worker directed the crane operator to lower the first L-shaped form, where it was affixed around the rebar. One side of the form was on the exterior south side of the floor, and the other was on the interior east side. The worker installed one shoring post (a type of scaffolding) on an angle to support the interior side of the form. Although it was normal practice to also brace the exterior side, in this instance no shoring or bracing was installed to support the exterior side. The worker tied fall protection equipment on to the first L-shaped formwork once it was in place. The crane then moved the second L-shaped formwork section to the third floor. At some point, the centre of gravity of the first formwork section shifted south, away from the building, and the approximately-550-pound formwork fell over the edge of the building, pulling the worker who was tied to it to the ground. Based on an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, while MTN had a written formwork procedure, workers had not been specifically trained on this written procedure and were not aware there was a specific written procedure, although they were aware that bracing was required. "All workers had working at heights training, but had not been given site-specific training, and had not been trained on where and how to properly tie off their fall protection equipment on this job site. MTN had a site tie-off procedure, but none of the workers had been trained on it prior to the incident. Fall protection equipment was made available to workers, but it was left to the workers to decide which type of fall arrest equipment was appropriate for any given circumstance," according to the Ontario government. MTN Construction Inc. failed to enforce the measures and procedures prescribed by Section 31(1) of the Regulation for Construction Projects, which state that "every part of a project, including a temporary structure... shall be adequately braced to prevent any movement that may affect its stability or cause its failure or collapse." Quarry injury results in $65K fine Ontario company James Dick Construction was fined $65,000 after pleading guilty in provincial offences court. The charge stemmed from a June 3, 2019 incident at the Ramara quarry. A worker was making repairs to rubber skirts of a screen in the lower feed hopper. While performing the work, the catwalk the worker was standing on gave away, and the worker fell about 15 feet to the quarry material below. The worker suffered injuries. Inspection by provincial authorities into the catwalk found that the steel in the floor grating, toe board and handrails had deteriorated. "Fall protection equipment was made available to workers, but it was left to the workers to decide which type of fall arrest equipment was appropriate." Ontario government. Saskatchewan employer penalized after worker's injury Saskatchewan company Shawcor Ltd. was fined $130,000 along with a $52,000 surcharge after one of its workers was injured by contact with machinery. The incident took place on Dec. 17, 2018, when a worker became entrapped in machinery in the Regina workplace. The company pleaded guilty in Regina Provincial Court to contravening clause 137(1)(a) of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 1996, or failing to provide an effective safeguard where a worker may contact a dangerous moving part of a machine, resulting in a serious injury to a worker. B.C. firm to pay $500K after worker falls 40 feet A construction partnership comprised of Aecon Construction Group, Dragados Canada, Flatiron and EBC was fined $528,631.72 after a worker was injured at a construction site in Peace River, B.C. The firm's worksite was a hydroelectric dam under construction in the district. The incident occurred when a worker was injured after falling around 40 ft. from a formwork shoring deck. WorkSafeBC said: "The firm failed to ensure fall protection was used, to have a written fall protection plan in place, and to ensure workers were instructed in the fall protection system to be used in their work area."

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