Worker falls 15 feet through an HVAC opening in a roof
Ontario employer H&N Roofing & Sheet Metal Limited has been fined a total of $75,000 for fall protection violations that led to a worker to fall from the roof of a building more than three years ago.
The incident happened on Dec. 18, 2020, when workers employed by the company were on the fifth-storey roof of a commercial building – working around an opening in the roof that had been cut for a new air handling unit.
The opening had been cut by another company on the project. It was approximately four feet by eight feet. The only item covering the opening at the time of the incident was Styrofoam insulation.
On the day of the incident, one of the workers near the opening lost their footing, slipped and fell 15 feet through the opening to a concrete floor below.
The worker had not been wearing any fall protection or head protection, according to the Ontario government.
Following a trial in Provincial Offences Court in London, Justice of the Peace Frank Leddy imposed on the employer fines of $70,000 for contravening section 26.1(2) and $5,000 for contravening section 22 of Ontario Regulation 213.
“By failing to ensure that the worker was adequately protected against falls and wearing a safety helmet, the company contravened sections 26.1(2) and 22 of Ontario Regulation 213, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
H&N Roofing & Sheet Metal 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.
