HAMILTON, ONT. — New Horizon Development Group (Waterdown) Inc. and TKEM Electric Ltd., both of Burlington, Ont., are facing significant fines in relation to a 2022 incident where a worker was killed after falling from the roof of a building under construction.
On August 16, 2022, an electrician was running wire to the roof of a two-storey commercial building under construction at 40 Mallard Trail in Hamilton.
According to an Ontario government court bulletin, while on the roof, the worker suffered a fatal fall to the ground below. The roof had a parapet wall along its perimeter with no temporary fencing or guarding at the roof’s edge. Access to this part of the roof was from a stairwell that was not locked. The stairwell and roof had no signs warning about the fall hazard.
As a result of an investigation, it was determined New Horizon failed, as a constructor, to ensure there were warning signs of the fall hazard on the roof as required by section 23(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
TKEM Electric Ltd. failed, as an employer, to provide the worker with information, instruction or supervision related to the fall hazard posed by the roof’s edge, as required by section 25(2)(a) of the Act.
Following a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court in Hamilton, New Horizon was fined $130,000 by Justice of the Peace Sharon Floyd on Oct. 17, 2024. TKEM Electric was fined $100,000 by Justice of the Peace Charles Kissi on March 21, 2024.
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