LEAMINGTON, ONT. — South Essex Fabricating Inc., a fabricator of commercial greenhouse structures and pre-engineered buildings, based out of Leamington, Ont. has been fined $65,000 in relation to a November 2022 incident where a worker was critically injured after a trench wall collapse.
According to an Ontario government court bulletin, the company failed to shore the walls of a trench as required under section 234(1) of Regulation 213/91 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA).
The court handed down the fine on July 8.
On Nov. 4, 2022, three workers were repairing a section of damaged stormwater drainage pipe at a worksite. The company had been contracted to build an addition to a greenhouse that the pipe serviced.
The pipe was located inside a trench, the bulletin reads. At one end, the width was just over seven feet, with a depth of just over eight feet. The width and depth of the excavation varied due to the uneven base and walls of the greenhouse.
The distance between the two ends of the pipe was approximately 23 feet. The excavated walls of the trench were cut vertically with little or no sloping, and no shoring was in place, the Ministry of Labour determined.
A worker entered the trench to repair the pipe when one of the walls collapsed. The collapsed portion of the trench made up a significant portion of the 23 feet cleared to repair the pipe. As a result of the collapse, the worker sustained critical injuries.
The ministry found in addition to failing to shore the walls of the trench the companied also committed the offence of failing, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 234(1) of Regulation 213/91were carried out, contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the OHSA.
Recent Comments