Three companies have been fined a total of $460,000 for Occupational Health and Safety Act offences following the injury of a worker at Windsor Detention Centre jobsite in May, 2013.
The fined businesses include:
- Bondfield Construction Company Ltd., the contractor in charge of the project, fined $175,000 on two counts;
- J.M.R. Electric Ltd., contracted by Bondfield to perform electrical installations, fined $75,000 on two counts; and
- Toromont Industries Ltd., contracted with J.M.R. Electric for a portion of the electrical work and the employer of the injured worker, fined $210,000 on three counts.
There was a nine-day trial in Windsor, with a judgement on May 5, 2017, a sentencing hearing on Aug. 17, before Justice of the Peace Maureen Rayan-Brode released sentencing on Oct. 27, the Ministry of Labour reported in a news release.
The MoL news release said: “While the building was under construction, a worker was cleaning a circuit breaker compartment with a conductive tool. The worker made contact with live electricity and was injured in an arc flash that produced a large ball of fire. Another worker used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. The injured worker required hospitalization.”
All three companies were convicted under section 190(4) of the regulation, which states that “the power supply to the electrical equipment, installation or conductor shall be disconnected, locked out of service and tagged… before the work begins, and kept disconnected, locked out of service and tagged while the work continues.”
The companies were also convicted under section 184(1) of the regulation, which states that “no person, other than a person authorized to do so by the supervisor in charge of the project, shall enter or be permitted to enter a room or other enclosure containing exposed energized electrical parts.”
As well. Toromont was convicted under section 187 of the regulation, which states that “tools, ladders, scaffolding and other equipment or materials capable of conducting electricity shall not be stored or used so close to energized electrical equipment, installations or conductors that they can make electrical contact.”