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
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:
