Workplace Fatality Leads to $110,000 Fine for Chepstow-based Manufacturer

The Voice of Canada News:

Convicted: Fritz Construction Services Inc., 173 Concession Road 6, Chepstow, Ontario N0G 1K0, a manufacturer of precast concrete.

Location of Workplace: The company’s Precast Plant located at its facilities in Chepstow, Ontario.

Description of Offence: A worker was fatally injured during the movement of concrete slabs. Fritz Construction Services Inc. (the Company) failed as an employer to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed by regulation were carried out at a worksite.

Date of Offence: January 6, 2020

Date of Conviction: April 14, 2023

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court in Walkerton, Ontario, the Company was fined $110,000 by Justice of the Peace Angela Renaud; Crown Counsel, David McCaskill.
• 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 the day of the incident, a worker was assisting in the plant, operating a trolley system used to transport slabs of precast concrete through the building to outside the facility.
• The worker was last seen between two trolley carts that moved on a cable and rail system operated by a hand-held remote control.
• The worker was later found unconscious between concrete slabs being transported by the two carts. There were no witnesses to the incident.
• The worker was taken to hospital, but later succumbed to injuries suffered.
• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the primary cause of the incident was the ability of the carts to make contact, thereby creating a crush hazard.
• The investigation also found no safeguards in place to protect workers from this hazard. A major contributing factor was the Company’s installation of a wire rope clamp on the wagon puller cable which was inconsistent with the manufacturer’s design.
• Accordingly, the Company failed as an employer to ensure that the provisions of section 45 (a) of Ontario Regulation 851/90 were complied with contrary to section 25 (1) (c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.