February 14, 2011

Kitchener concrete company fined $95,000 in death of foreman

BRAMPTON, Ont.

2026380 Ontario Limited, carrying on business as Able Concrete, a Kitchener construction company, has been fined $95,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that caused a worker’s death. Bryan Cher, a supervisor with the company, was also fined $15,000 in relation to the same incident.

On June 1, 2009, Able Concrete was doing concrete formwork at the Lakeview Water Treatment Plant in Mississauga.

A foreman at the site directed a worker to put a formwork panel into place. The worker used a crane to move the panel to where it needed to be. As the panel was being set down, it shifted and came free of its rigging to the crane. The 700-kilogram panel fell onto the foreman, who died.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the panel could have been rigged to the crane in a more stable fashion.

Ministry of Labour inspectors also determined that Cher, a supervisor at the site, had disturbed the scene of the incident before the police arrived to investigate.

2026380 Ontario Limited, carrying on business as Able Concrete, pleaded guilty to failing, as an employer, to ensure the formwork panel was stored and moved in a manner that did not endanger a worker. Cher pleaded guilty, as a supervisor, to the same offense. He was fined $6,000.

Cher was fined an additional $9,000 after pleading guilty to disturbing the scene of a workplace incident before being given permission by an inspector.

DCN NEWS SERVICES

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