Apr 27 2007
Renaissance Quality Roofing Ltd., a Toronto-based roofing company, was fined $160,000, and a home owner/constructor was fined $5,000, both on April 23, 2007, for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in the death of a worker at a residential construction site in Toronto's north end.
On May 17, 2004, a worker was installing materials on the roof of a partially-built, two-storey house when the worker was struck by a plywood platform. The worker fell about 3.25 metres (10 feet, eight inches) onto a paved driveway of an adjacent house. Receiving massive head injuries, the worker was taken to hospital in Toronto where the worker was pronounced dead. The worker was employed by Renaissance Quality Roofing Ltd., which had been hired to install roofing shingles on the house on Johnston Avenue, just southwest of Sheppard Avenue and Yonge Street in North York, Ont.
A Ministry of Labour investigation determined the plywood platform belonged to Proline Construction Ltd., which had been hired to construct rough framing for the house. Proline workers had constructed the platform and attached it to the roof for storing a stack of plywood sheets which was used for "sheathing" (a plywood cover) on the roof. When the sheathing on one side was complete, a Proline worker removed four supporting timbers from the platform to move the platform to a different location on the roof. The freed plywood platform slid down the side of the roof and fell onto the Renaissance worker who was not wearing any fall arrest equipment.
Following a trial, Renaissance Quality Roofing Ltd. was found guilty, as an employer, of:
- failing to ensure that materials at the construction site were stored and moved in a manner that did not endanger a worker, as required by Section 37(1) of the Regulations for Construction Projects. This was contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the act;
- failing to provide supervision to workers at the construction project. This was contrary to Section 25(2)(a) of the act;
- failing to take precautions reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of the worker. This was contrary to Section 25(2)(h) of the act; and
- failing to ensure the workers who may use a fall protection system were adequately trained in its use and given adequate oral and written instructions by a competent person, as required by Section 26.2(1) of the Regulations for Construction Projects. This was contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the act.
Justice of the Peace David Hunt, of the Ontario Court of Justice in Scarborough, fined the company $40,000 on each count. In addition, following a trial, Paul Wright, who owned the house, was found guilty of:
- failing, as an employer, to take precautions reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of the worker. This was contrary to Section 25(2)(h) of the act;
- failing, as a constructor, to appoint a supervisor to supervise the work of workers at the construction site, as required by Section 14 of the Regulations for Construction Projects. This was contrary to Section 23(1)(a) of the act; and
- failing, as a constructor, to ensure materials at the construction site were stored and moved in a manner that did not endanger a worker, as required by Section 37(1) of the Regulations for Construction Projects. This was contrary to Section 23(1)(a) of the act.
Justice of the Peace Hunt fined the homeowner $2,000 on each of the first and second counts and $1,000 on the third count.
In addition to the fines, 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.
On March 7, 2007 Proline Construction Ltd. was fined $80,000 in connection with the same incident.