Ladder worker was working on slips from side of a house
Ontario employer Richard D. Steele Construction (1979) Ltd. was fined $75,000 after one of its workers suffered a critical injury in the workplace.
The employer failed to provide for the safe installation of siding and trim on a house from a height, according to the Ontario government.
Richard D. Steele Construction pleaded guilty in the Provincial Offences Court in Brockville.
The employer must also pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, to be credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Pump jack scaffold system
The incident happened on Aug. 8, 2022, when two workers were installing exterior siding and trim on the wall of a private house.
The workers set up a pump jack scaffold system to allow them to work at height. However, the jack scaffold system did not span the entire wall being worked on.
One worker climbed an extension ladder that was leaned against the wall in the 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. The worker fell and suffered a critical injury.
Richard D. Steele Construction (1979) Ltd. failed as an employer to ensure that the requirements of section 125(1) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 (Construction Projects) were carried out at the project, and thereby violated section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), noted the Ontario government.
“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,” said the provincial government.
