HAMILTON, ONT. – A contractor along with a local grading company have been convicted of provincial offences relating to an October 2016 incident in Hamilton, Ont. in which a worker was critically injured when run over by a grader.
CRH Canada Group/Groupe CRH Canada Inc. of Longueil, Que., operating as Dufferin Construction, and William James Price of Hamilton, operating as Bill Price Grader Rentals, pleaded guilty and were fined by a Hamilton justice of the peace following their convictions July 17, a Ministry of Labour (MOL) statement said.
Price was contracted by Dufferin to provide grading services for road reconstruction work on Upper Sherman Avenue in Hamilton. Price was working as the operator of the grader.
The grading required another worker to be either in front of or behind the grader, depending on the direction of travel of the grader, to provide the grader operator with information.
The ministry investigation found Price was operating the grader in a forward direction while the other worker was using a plate tamper to pack gravel.
While the worker was using the plate tamper, Price put the grader in reverse; the worker was now behind the grader, the MOL states.
The grader was equipped with a back-up alarm. However, at the time of the incident, the alarm was not functioning and the worker operating the tamper did not see or hear the approaching grader.
The grader struck and ran the worker over. As a result, the worker suffered multiple injuries.
An MOL investigation determined the back-up alarm on the grader was not maintained in a condition that would not endanger the worker.
Although the alarm would work occasionally, the wiring of the alarm was in a condition that would cause the alarm to stop working.
As such, Price failed as an employer to ensure that all vehicles, machinery, tools and equipment were maintained in a condition that does not endanger a worker, as required by the Construction Projects Regulation, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The ministry investigation determined that, though there were signs instructing truck drivers not to back up without a signaller, there were no warning signs in conspicuous places to warn workers of the danger of reversing equipment as required by subsection 104(6) of Regulation 213/91. CRH Canada Inc., as the constructor of the project, pleaded guilty to that violation of the law.
Canada Group was fined $90,000 and Price was fined $5,000.
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