Eric Lemire Enterprises Inc. failed to make sure trusses were braced and secure
Eric Lemire Enterprises Inc. has been fined $55,000 after a worker was injured by building material that was stored unsafely.
The construction company pleaded guilty to failing as an employer to ensure material or equipment at a project was stored and moved in a way that did not endanger a worker.
The incident happened on September 8, 2021 while the company was erecting structural steel at a construction project in St. Thomas, Ontario.
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour says a foreperson and two labourers were rigging steel joist trusses to a mobile crane to be hoisted. Each truss was 50 feet long, four feet wide and five inches wide. They weighed about 5,700 pounds each.
“The crew was trying to separate a bundle of four trusses that were jammed together. They were able to separate the two outer trusses, which were then placed upright on either side of the bundle without being braced or secured from tipping,” says the ministry.
One worker went to get a crowbar at one end of the bundle and walked back along a path between the trusses and a stack of metal decking. The ministry says, “at that moment, the two jammed trusses suddenly came apart and knocked the unsecured truss, causing it to tip and injure the worker.”
The ministry says the trusses were not braced or secured in any way, and despite this being a common issue encountered by the company on other projects, it did not have proper procedures or training related to the safe storage, movement or separation of jammed trusses.
The company violated section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and has been ordered to pay the fine, as well as a 25 percent victim surcharge.
