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Convicted: Trisan General Contractors Inc., 5339 4^th Concession Road, Goodwood ON. Trisan provides high rise building restoration, demolition and other construction related services.

Location of Workplace: 18 Namco Road, Etobicoke ON, M9W1M5

Description of Offence: A worker performing work for Trisan General Contractors Inc. was critically injured while working on an excavator. The employer failed to take the reasonable precaution of developing or implementing a safe procedure to ensure the worker was not exposed to a crushing hazard.

Date of Offence: January 29, 2020

Date of Conviction: January 28, 2022.

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in provincial offences court in Toronto, Trisan General Contractors Inc. was fined $55,000 by Justice of the Peace Quamina.
• The court also imposed 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.

Background:

• On January 29, 2020, a worker performing work for Trisan General Contractors Inc. was critically injured while working on an excavator at Trisan’s workplace.
• The worker was attempting to set a ‘position arm’ of an attachment to the lower jaw of the excavator. The boom of the excavator suddenly descended and caused the position arm to critically injure the worker.
• The injured worker was asked by a co-worker to assist in completing the installation of a ‘grapple’ attachment to the boom of an excavator.
• A ‘grapple’ attachment is attached to a boom of an excavator and consists of two ‘jaws’ which open and close to grab, collect, lift, and/or move material. Once the upper jaw of the grapple was secured to the boom, the remaining task was to attach the position arm of the boom to the lower jaw. This required aligning the mounting hole on the position arm with the mating hole on the lower jaw and then inserting a connecting pin through the holes.
• A Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development investigation revealed that the process used by the injured worker and the co-worker made it possible for the worker to be exposed to a crushing hazard.
• Accordingly, the employer committed the offence of failing to comply with section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.