A sewer and watermain contractor based out of Maple, Ontario, has been fined $250,000 in connection with a 2022 workplace incident that led to two deaths and injuries to two other workers.

Direct Underground pled guilty to a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in provincial court in Oshawa. The company will also pay a 25-percent victim fine surcharge.

The incident occurred on August 8, 2022 at a road-widening project on Rossland Road, between Church Street and Westney Road, in the Town of Ajax.

Direct Underground had been contracted to install a storm sewer for the project. Six of the company’s workers were installing a new catch basin system.

While four workers were in the excavation to install the system, the north wall of the excavation collapsed, resulting in fatal injuries to two of the workers and non-fatal injuries to the other two workers.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the excavation wall had a weaker layer of soil present, which was classified as Type 3 per Ontario Regulation 213/91. This required shoring or appropriate sloping of the walls to prevent unstable conditions leading to collapse.

The investigation also found that there was no engineering opinion on the stability of the excavation wall, and no support system installed for the weaker layer of soil.

Direct Underground was found to have failed to ensure that the walls of the excavation were supported by a shoring system or appropriate sloping of the walls that complied with sections 235, 236, 237, 238, 239 and 241 of Ontario Regulation 213/91, as required by section 234(1) of the regulation, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.