Construction Company in Brockville Fined for Workplace Injury in August 2022

Brockville – A construction company based in Brockville was fined $75,000 after a worker fell and suffered a critical injury in August of 2022.

In a release issued on Tuesday, April 2nd by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, following a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court, in Brockville, Richard D. Steele Construction (1979) Ltd. was fined $75,000 by Justice of the Peace Stephen Dibblee; Crown Counsel, Tyler Fram.

The court also imposed a 25 percent 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.

Back in August 2022, the release said two workers were installing exterior siding and trim on the wall of a private dwelling. A pump jack scaffold system had been set up to allow the workers to perform the work at height, however, it did not span the entire wall being worked on.

One worker climbed an extension ladder that was leaning against the wall in an area not accessible from the scaffold. The worker was using a pneumatic nail gun and started working at a height of more than three metres. While handling the nail gun the worker leaned over and the extension ladder slipped from the side of the house and the worker fell and suffered a critical injury.

Section 125(1) of Regulation 213/91 mandates that where work cannot be done on or from the ground or from a building or other permanent structure without hazard to workers, a worker shall be provided with a scaffold, a suspended work platform, a boatswain’s chair or a multipoint suspended work platform that meets the requirements of the Regulation.