Guelph, ON – Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd., a Mississauga construction company, was fined $55,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.
On September 20, 2010, workers were building a waste processing facility in Guelph. They were stripping forms from a concrete wall that had finished curing. One worker climbed to the top of the wall to remove a form. The worker rigged that form to a crane and tied off to an adjacent form. As a second worker was prying the first form from the wall, the movement loosened the form the first worker was tied to. This form tipped over, bringing the worker with it. The worker suffered leg injuries.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that workers normally leave one or two metal rods in forms before they are stripped off to brace them against falling. In this instance the last rod in the form that fell had been removed and then replaced before the worker tied off to the form.
Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd. pled guilty to failing to ensure the forms were moved in a way that would not endanger a worker.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Zeljana Radulovic. In addition to the fine, the court 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.
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