Skip to content

Sudbury company fined $50,000 in 2016 incident

Pioneer Construction fined in worker fallĀ 
Gavel
Pioneer Construction Inc. was fined for $50,000 in Thunder Bay court by Justice of the Peace John H. Guthrie following a guilty plea related to a 2016 incident where a worker was injured after falling from a ladder. (File)

Pioneer Construction Inc. was fined for $50,000 in Thunder Bay court by Justice of the Peace John H. Guthrie following a guilty plea related to a 2016 incident where a worker was injured after falling from a ladder.

The court also imposed 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.

In 2016, Pioneer Construction Inc. was contracted to resurface the asphalt of the north runway of the Thunder Bay International Airport.

On July 29, 2016, a float truck operator was working near the north runway securing a mobile office unit on a float truck. Chains were attached to the mobile office unit and a loader hoisted the mobile office unit and placed it onto the float truck.

With the unit on the float truck, the worker was to climb to the top of the mobile office unit using a ladder, and detach the chains.

The worker put the  ladder on the deck of the float truck to get to the top of the mobile office unit. While the worker was on the ladder, the ladder slipped backwards and down. 
The worker fell, lost consciousness and suffered bodily injuries. The ladder had not been secured at the top and the bottom to prevent movement.

As such, the defendant Pioneer Construction Inc. failed to comply with the section 82(2)(d) of the Construction Projects Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91), as required by section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.