Safety violation highlights dangers of working near live power lines
Pickard Construction, a company based in Owen Sound that specializes in telecommunication installations, was fined $200,000 after a worker suffered critical injuries while clearing a pipe blockage near a live hydro line at a project site located at the northeast corner of Glenway Road and Concession Road 13 in the Township of Tiny, Ontario.
The conviction, issued on Oct. 1, 2024, came in response to a 2022 workplace incident in which two Pickard Construction workers were using compressed air to clear traceable mule tape—a material used to locate buried fiber-optic pipes—from a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe. When the blockage cleared, the tangled mule tape was propelled into the air, crossing a live hydro line and critically injuring a worker positioned at the pipe’s endpoint.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that Pickard Construction had failed to implement safety measures to protect workers from the risk posed by nearby energized electrical equipment, installations and conductors. The ministry’s investigation determined that these measures, prescribed by Ontario Regulation 213/91, were not in place as required by section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Pickard Construction pleaded guilty in the Provincial Offences Court in Barrie, where Justice of the Peace Douglas Conley imposed the fine. The court also added a mandatory 25% victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, with funds directed toward a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Pickard Construction was contracted to drill and install underground fiber-optic lines to provide high-speed internet access to homes in rural southwestern Ontario, a news release noted. Following the incident, Pickard Construction has adopted new written safety procedures for using compressed air to clear HDPE pipes.
