MAPLE, ONT. — Sewer and watermain construction company Direct Underground Inc. of Maple, Ont. has been fined $250,000 in relation to an August 2022 incident where two workers were killed and two injured during the installation of a new underground sewer system in Ajax.
According to an Ontario court bulletin, the incident occurred on Aug. 8, 2022, during a road widening project on Rossland Road, between Church Street and Westney Road.
Direct Underground had been contracted to install a storm sewer for the project. Six workers employed by the company were installing a new catch basin system.
While four workers were in the excavation to install the system, the north wall 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 the excavation wall had a weaker layer of soil present. This required shoring or appropriate sloping of the walls to prevent unstable conditions leading to collapse. The investigation also found there was no engineering opinion on the stability of the excavation wall, the bulletin explains, and no support system installed for the weaker layer of soil.
As a result, Direct Underground Inc. failed to ensure 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.
The company was fined Nov. 29, 2024 following a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court in Oshawa by Justice Lara Crawford.
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