charges

From the Courts….

December 20, 2011 by Kodiak Drilling

Charged and Convicted

From the legal files, we have a recent conviction and some new charges:

Convicted

October 2011 – An Employer and supervisor pleaded guilty to a charge under section 228(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 resulting in fines of $20,000 and $2,500 respectively. This was the result of an incident investigation from April 2010 where workers hit a 1 ¼” natural gas line while excavating at a residence in St. Catharines. It was determined that locates were not performed prior to beginning the excavation.

May 2011 – Two employers on the same project plead guilty to charges under section 228(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 and received fines of $6500 and $20,000. This was the result of an incident investigation from August of 2008 where a gas line was cut during and excavation for an electrical duct at an institutional project in Milton.

Charged

October 2011 – A worker was issued a summons – issued under section 228(1)(b) of O. Reg. 213/91 (a section related to utility locates). We will stay tuned to see if this worker is convicted.

Follow up

A follow up to our article regarding private locates and the explosion that killed one person near Owen Sound – In reviewing Ministry of Labour Court Bulletins, we came across the guilty plea of the construction company with a an imposed fine of $225,000. The press release can be found by clicking press release. As a reminder, this incident involved a house where private locates had not been completed. More information can be found in our Feature Article on private locates at houses in the utility locate section of our articles.

Ministry of Labour Court Bulletins can be found by clicking Court Bulletins.

Information courtesy Ontario Ministry of Labour

Utility Locates – Conviction

February 9, 2011 by Kodiak Drilling

No Locates – Convicted

An Ontario firm was convicted in December and fined $5,000 (plus 25% victim surcharge) for failing to obtain proper locates prior to undertaking their work, which resulted in hitting a gas line. You can view the TSSA press release with more information by clicking here

Major Fine – Incomplete Locates

November 9, 2010 by Kodiak Drilling

$180,000 For Locate Problem

This item is a follow up to our feature article in the January 2010 newsletter (still available on our website in the Utility Locate section). Our article was focused on the importance of also having private locates, in addition to 1Call. The article featured some incidents which highlighted the need for private locates at all sites, including residential properties. The Ministry of Labour released an article in OHS Canada Magazine on November 2 related to one of the incidents we cited, indicating that the company was convicted and fined $180,000 (plus 25% victim surcharge) for charges related to not having locates. In a separate conviction for the same incident, the supervisor was personally fined $12,000. The mistake of not having a private locator at a site has not only cost a life, but also some very significant fines. Please read the article by clicking this link.

MOL Charges

September 14, 2010 by Kodiak Drilling

MOL Charges – Utility Locates

Over the May-June-July 2010 period, the Western Region of the Ministry of Labour (MOL) (southwestern Ontario – does not include Toronto) imposed charges under Section 228 of the Construction Regulation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. This section of the regulation is outlined below:

228. (1) Before an excavation is begun,

(a) the employer excavating shall ensure that all gas, electrical and other services in and near the area to be excavated are located and marked;

(b) the employer and worker locating and marking the services described in clause (a) shall ensure that they are accurately located and marked; and

Charges laid over that 3 month period include 2 charges to employers, 1 charge to a supervisor, and 2 charges to workers.

In addition, the Ministry of Labour also provided the following summaries of cases determined during this period.

“An Employer plead guilty to a charge under section 228(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 resulting in a fine of $6,500. This was the result of a power line contact from August of 2009 where a 110V line was damaged as a result of excavating without locates for a new residential foundation project in Kitchener.”

“An Employer plead guilty to a charge under section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act R.S.O. 1990 c.01 which resulted in a fine of $60,000. This was the result of an incident investigation from August of 2006 at a project in Welland, where workers were drilling holes into the ground when they made contact with an unmarked gas line causing an explosion. It was determined that the locates failed to show the gas line that was ultimately struck.”

We have thus far been unable to obtain the data for MOL charges related to locate problems for Toronto. Our attempts to obtain data from the TSSA related to their charges and orders have been unsuccessful.