Table of Contents

1. Content
2. Related Topics

Convicted:  Aurora King Masonry Ltd., 76 Wiltshire Avenue, Toronto, a company specializing in masonry work.

Location of Workplace: 12600 Kennedy Road, Caledon.

Description of Offence: A worker received critical injuries after falling from a platform. By law, a work platform over 2.4 metres (7.87 feet) must have a guardrail.

Date of Offence: January 12, 2019.

Date of Conviction: September 10, 2020.

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea, Aurora King Masonry Ltd. was fined $60,000 by Justice of the Peace Valerie G. Carty; Crown Counsel Indira Stewart.
• 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 12, 2019, Aurora King Masonry was undertaking masonry work at a project located at 12600 Kennedy Road in Caledon, Ontario. The project involved the construction of a three-story seniors' residence.
• On that date, two workers were working from the platform of a mast climber about 30 feet (9.14 metres)  from the ground. 
• One worker descended from the work platform to obtain fresh batteries for a tool. The worker returned and found the co-worker lying unconscious on the ground. No one witnessed the fall.
• The injured worker suffered critical injuries.
• A Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development inspector determined that the elevated work platform in question did not have a guardrail.
• Section 135(1)(c) of Ontario Regulation 213/91, the regulation for construction projects, requires that a scaffold platform or other work platform be provided with a guardrail as required by section 26.3 of the regulation.
• On January 12, 2019, Aurora King failed, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 135(1)(c) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were carried out at a construction project, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Related Topics