Truck driver did not know there was a worker behind vehicle acting as singaller
Ontario employers York Developments (London) Inc. and Arcon Electric Ltd. were fined $55,000 and $35,000, respectively, after one worker was struck by a truck and was severely injured in the workplace.
They must also pay a 25 percent surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, to be credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
The incident happened on Feb. 18, 2020. York Developments (London) Inc was the owner and constructor of a project to build two condominium towers on Fanshawe Park Road West in London. Arcon Electric Ltd. had been hired as a subcontractor to provide plumbing, and another construction management company had been hired to act as the project manager.
On that day, workers from Arcon Electric were expecting a delivery truck, which entered the centre driveway between the two buildings.
However, because there was another truck already on the driveway and there was not enough space for the delivery truck to turn around, the site supervisor – employed by the construction management company – told the driver to reverse back down the driveway and continue reversing along Fanshawe Road until they arrived at the east driveway.
The project manager asked two workers from Arcon to act as signallers for the reversing truck, one in front and one behind.
While the truck was reversing along Fanshawe Road, the driver accelerated slightly because there was a break in traffic that would allow him to turn into the driveway.
The driver did not know there was a worker behind the truck, acting as a signaller. The truck struck and severely injured the worker.
Motor vehicle incidents were the leading cause of work-related fatalities in Ontario every single year during the past decade, according to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario.
York Developments (London) allegedly contravened s. 23(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, according to the Ontario government, “by failing, as a constructor, to ensure that the measures and procedures required by Section 104(1) of Ontario Regulation 213/91, which states that every project must be planned and organized so that vehicles, machines or equipment are not operated in reverse, or are operated in reverse as little as possible, were carried out”.
Meanwhile, Arcon Electric allegedly contravened s. 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act “by failing, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures required by Section 106(1.1) of Ontario Regulation 213/91, which specifies specific requirements for high-visibility clothing that must be worn by signallers, were carried out,” according to the Ontario government.
