Two Windsor companies have been fined a total of $130,000 in connection with a 2021 incident that injured two workers.

General contractors Fortis Construction Group and masonry contractor Vito Masonry pled guilty in a Windsor courtroom to violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Fortis Construction Group Inc. was fined $85,000 while Vito Masonry Ltd. was fined $45,000.

The court also imposed 25 percent victim fine surcharges as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The incident occurred in November 2021 at the site of the Eastview Horizon Elementary School on Stillmeadow Road in Windsor.

Fortis was the constructor of the building and had hired Vito Masonry Ltd. to complete masonry work, including building block walls.

On November 9, a freestanding interior masonry block wall, 54 feet long and 13.5 feet tall, was completed. The wall was not braced by workers from either company.

On November 11, workers from both companies were on the second floor of the building. The weather that morning was unremarkable. In the early afternoon, the weather changed, with wind speed reaching over 30 km/h. During that time, a section of the unbraced masonry block wall collapsed, injuring two workers.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that the masonry block wall was inadequately braced.