London roofer fined $75k after fall
A London-based roofing company has been fined $75,000 in connection with a 2020 fall.
H&N Roofing & Sheet Metal Limited pled guilty to charges of failing ensure a worker was protected by appropriate fall protection and wearing protective headwear in a London court. The company will also pay a 25% victim fine surcharge.
The incident occurred on December 18, 2020 at a commercial building project at 255 Queens Avenue in London.
Workers from H&N Roofing & Sheet Metal Limited were on the fifth-storey roof of a commercial building.
They were doing roofing work around an opening in the roof that had been cut for a new air handling unit. The opening, which had been cut by another company on the project, was approximately four feet by eight feet. The only item covering the opening at the time of the incident was Styrofoam insulation.
One of the workers near the opening lost their footing, slipped and fell 15 feet through the opening to a concrete floor below. The worker had not been wearing any fall protection or head protection.
By failing to ensure that the worker was adequately protected against falls and wearing a safety helmet, H&N Roofing & Sheet Metal Limited was found to have contravened sections 26.1(2) and 22 of Ontario Regulation 213, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.