BRANTFORD, ONT. — Frontline Cable and Gas Services Inc., an excavating contractor from Brantford, Ont., has been fined over $100,000 in relation to a worker fatality that occurred in Brampton in 2023.
According to an Ontario court bulletin, the incident took place at the intersection of Campkin Street and Mill Street South on Feb. 10, 2023.
On the day of the incident, the company was laying network cables. Five workers were preparing to perform directional drilling using a Ditch Witch JT9 Drilling Machine.
While it was being set up a hydraulic oil leak was observed by a worker and a supervisor.
The supervisor started repairing the leaking valve cylinder from the top of the machine with the worker helping him. The worker then offered to fix the leak as they had been trained, the release reads.
The supervisor then left the worker to do the repairs and check on other workers. It was at that time that the worker started to work under the machine to stop the leak, however, the equipment was not blocked as per the operator’s manual to prevent it falling on the ground.
While fixing the hydraulic oil leak, pressure was inadvertently released from the valve cylinder and the machine suddenly lowered, causing a fatal injury.
Section 108 of Ontario Regulation 213/91 requires that, “Blocking shall be installed to prevent the collapse or movement of part or all of a piece of equipment that is being dismantled, altered or repaired if its collapse or movement may endanger a worker.”
The employer failed to ensure that the provisions of section 108 of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were complied with at a workplace, contrary to section 25(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
On Jan. 16, following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, Frontline Cable and Gas Services Inc. was fined $110,000 by Justice Kathryn Hawke.
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