Construction company fined following worker fatality
The Ontario government has fined VanHeughten Contractors Inc. and its director for failing to ensure adequate safety following a worker’s fatal injury and a guilty plea in court. The small construction company and director Kyle VanHeughten face fines of $85,000 and $32,000 respectively.
The government says a worker was fatally injured after falling approximately five metres from a roof at a construction site in Aylmer, Ont., in March 2022. Four workers were installing wooden roof trusses on top of framed walls. No guardrail protection was present, nor were any of the workers wearing any other method of prescribed fall protection equipment. None of the workers wore any protective headwear.
One worker was standing on a two-by-four inch wood strapping while nailing wood with a cordless framing nailer. The strapping broke and the worker fell 5.08 meters from the roof and was struck by the nailer, causing fatal injuries.
The government says the company failed to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed under section 26.1(2) of Regulation 213/91 were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. VanHeughten himself failed, as a director of the business, to take all reasonable care to ensure that the corporation complied with section 26.1(2) of Regulation 213/91 contrary to section 32(a) of the Act.
The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.