Newmarket company fined $75,000 in conjunction with 2021 fatality
A Newmarket-based apartment builder has been fined $75,000 in connection with a 2021 workplace fatality.
2671475 Ontario Inc. pled guilty to a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in provincial court. The company will also pay a 25% victim fine surcharge.
The incident occurred on November 30, 2021 at a worksite on Cemetery Road in Uxbridge.
2671475 Ontario Inc. was the constructor of an apartment building. The company had subcontracted the erection of retaining walls to an excavation and site servicing company.
The job entailed moving pallets of blocks with a forklift designed for movement on rough terrain. The machine had a telescoping boom with a forklift attachment.
On the day of the incident, one of the subcontractor’s workers asked the forklift operator, who was employed by 2671475 Ontario Inc., to move four pallets of blocks from the front of the project to the rear.
After dropping the fourth pallet at the rear, the forklift operator proceeded to reverse the machine back to the front of the project.
To provide signaling assistance, the contract worker moved to the right side of the forklift, then stepped closer to the machine’s rear wheels to ensure the operator could see their hand signals.
Shortly after, the operator lost sight of the contract worker in the passenger sideview mirror and immediately stopped the machine.
Although there were no witnesses to the incident, evidence gathered during a Ministry of Labour investigation appears to show the worker slipped on snow and mud, falling under the wheel of the moving vehicle. The worker was fatally injured.
The investigation determined the forklift’s right-side mirror had limited visibility due to its positioning and blockage by the machine’s boom and hoses. As the operator did not have a clear view of the path of the machine’s travel, it was required that a signaler assist.
Contrary to the signaler requirements, the contract worker was not in full view of the forklift operator and was not clear of the intended path of the machine’s travel.