WINDSOR, ONT. — An electrical firm based in Tecumseh, Ont. was convicted and fined for its role in a 2017 industrial workplace incident in which a worker installing light fixtures fell and was injured.
Cybertech Controls and Electric Inc. was contracted to install new light fixtures and repair existing fixtures at an industrial facility in Windsor, a Ministry of Labour release said.
On Feb. 15, 2017, a worker employed by Cybertech was assigned the work. The worker was working alone and unsupervised.
The worker used an elevating work platform to access the work area, which was located above the ceiling of the room being worked in.
The height of the ceiling was approximately 6.5 metres.
The worker, who was not wearing fall protection, moved from the elevating lift into the ceiling area and then fell to the concrete floor below.
The worker was found injured on the floor of the room by another worker at the facility. The injured worker sustained critical injuries.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the injured worker had not received training on the use of fall protection equipment or working at heights, and had not received training on the use of elevating work platforms.
Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires an employer to ensure that the measures and procedures required by the act and regulations are carried out at a workplace.
Section 26.1(2) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 (the Construction Regulation) requires that a worker exposed to the hazard of falling three metres or more shall be adequately protected by a fall protection system.
Section 25(2)(a) of the act requires an employer to ensure that a worker is provided with information, instruction and supervision to protect the health and safety of the worker.
Justice of the Peace Susan Whelan in a Windsor provincial court found that Cybertech failed to ensure that a worker was adequately protected by a fall protection system in contravention of section 26.1(2) of the Construction Regulation, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the act, and also failed to ensure that a worker was provided with information, instruction and supervision to protect the health and safety of the worker, contrary to section 25(2)(a) of the act.
Following a guilty plea, Cybertech was fined $70,000 on March 25.
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