MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — A worker who lost control of a high-pressure water jetting system was killed after being hit by the water jet.
The company he worked for, 2132857 Ontario Ltd. in Mississauga, Ont., has been fined $85,000 as a result of the incident. The incident occurred Aug. 26, 2017 and the conviction was handed down Dec. 4 of this year.
Following a guilty plea, the company was fined by Justice of the Peace Helena Cassano in a provincial offences court in Mississauga. The company is in the business of cleaning drains and catch basins using hydro-vacuum trucks.
The company was retained to clean the catch basins at a property located at 3333 Unity Dr. in Mississauga.
According to a release issued by the Ministry of Labour, the worker, who was an experienced operator, was assisted by a helper and they cleaned a number of drains in the property’s east parking lot.
The pair then drove to the north parking lot and started to work on a drain there. The experienced worker was operating a handheld remote as well as the wand. At one point the worker held the flexible part of the hose in order to allow the wand to get into the deeper areas of the drain.
The worker lost control of the high-pressure water jetting system and dropped the hose. The jet became uncontrollable as the hose flung around, the release indicates, adding the worker was hit by the jet in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene. The helper was also hit by the jet and received minor injuries.
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), an employer shall take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
The company failed to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that the high-pressure water jetting wand used by a worker to clean catch basins was equipped with an operator-controlled trigger to control the flow of water, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the OHSA, states the release.
The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
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