Worker critically injured after being struck by a vehicle
Ontario construction employer Steed and Evans Ltd. has been fined $70,000 after one of its workers was injured in the workplace.
Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Guelph, the employer was also tasked to pay 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.
The incident happened at a construction project at Elliott Avenue and Harpin Way in Fergus on June 10, 2022.
On that day, a worker was parging previously installed sewer chambers in the middle of a roadway. This involved reaching into the sewer chamber and applying a coat of mixed cement to the inside collar of the chamber to fill in gaps and cracks.
The road where the work was taking place was an unassumed road and was not open to public traffic, but it was still accessible to vehicular traffic and was regularly used for construction vehicles and equipment.
Also, while the worker on the ground was wearing a high visibility vest, he was performing the task alone and there were no traffic control measures in place around the worker, or any barriers or warning signs around the workspace.
As the worker performed this task on the ground beside the sewer chamber, another worker drove through the area and struck the first worker, causing critical injuries.
A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Steed and Evans Ltd. failed to position adequate warning signs or barriers to protect a worker performing work on a roadway.
“By failing to position adequate warning signs or barriers to protect the worker, Steed and Evans Ltd. failed to ensure that the measures and procedures as prescribed by section 67(4) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were carried out at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
