WINGHAM, ONT. — Hydro One Networks Inc. and Gregory Diebold, a supervisor, have been fined a total of $262,000 in relation to an incident that occurred on a construction project in 2022 on Howick-Turnberry Road near Gilmour Line in Wingham, Ont. that left one worker with critical injuries.
According to a Government of Ontario court bulletin, a worker was critically injured after a copper wire they were holding made contact with a live powerline.
On Sept. 25, 2022, two workers were installing 21-inch copper leads on a three-phase 44-kilovolt powerline. They were working from a double bucket insulated boom truck.
The powerline they were working on was deenergized. A single rural 4.8 kilovolt powerline below them was still live and a cover-up barrier was not applied, the bulletin states. The distance between the powerlines was about 20.5 feet.
As one of the workers handed the end of a copper lead to the other, they lost their grip and dropped their end of the lead. The second worker was holding the other end of the lead when it made contact with the live powerline below, causing a critical injury.
As part of the investigation the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development found several failures with respect to section 132 of the Electrical Utility Safety Rules (EUSR), including:
- The job planners failed to complete a work plan identifying the hazards at this specific work location.
- The job planners, including the supervisor, did not account for the lead lengths and line heights when assessing the distance between the top of the insulated bucket down to the energized line.
- The single rural 4.8 kilovolt power line was not covered or controlled.
The bulletin also states the supervisor had been identified on the job plan as a designated observer, but because the work was being done more than three feet away from the lower, energized rural line, they believed a designated observer was not required.
As a result, Hydro One Networks Inc. failed, as an employer, to ensure the work was performed in accordance with section 132 of the EUSR as required by section 181 of Ontario Regulation 213/91, contrary to section27(1)(a) of the of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The supervisor also failed to take every reasonable precaution to prevent hazards to workers from energized electrical equipment, installations and conductors, as required by section 183 of Ontario Regulation 213/91, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Following guilty pleas in the Provincial Offences Court in Goderich, Hydro One was fined $250,000 by Justice of the Peace Kristine Diaz and Gregory Diebold was fined $12,000 by Justice of the Peace Tara Oudekerk. Hydro One was convicted on Nov. 19, 2024, and the supervisor was convicted on Aug. 13, 2024.
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