January 24th, 2024
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COURT BULLETIN Workplace Fatality Results in $110,000 Fine for Kitchener-area Construction Company January 19, 2024 Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development |
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Convicted: Matpol Metal Roof Manufacturing Ltd., carrying out business as Canadian Metal Roof Manufacturing Ltd., 77 Misty Street, Kitchener, Ontario N2B 3V6, a construction company that installs metal roof systems. Location of Workplace: A private residence on Waterloo Street, London, Ontario. Description of Offence: A worker was fatally injured in a fall while installing metal sheathing on a second-storey roof. By not ensuring the worker used fall protection while on the roof, Matpol Metal Roof Manufacturing Ltd. (Matpol) failed, as a constructor, to ensure that every employer and every worker performing on a project complied with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. Date of Offence: April 6, 2022 Date of Conviction: January 10, 2024 Penalty Imposed: Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in London, Matpol Metal Roof Manufacturing Ltd. was fined $110,000 by Justice of the Peace Emma Sims. Crown Counsel was Alicia Gordon-Fagan. The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime. Background: Matpol was the constructor on a project installing a metal roof on a single-family home. Matpol subcontracted another roofing company to complete this work. On April 6, 2022, a worker from the subcontracted company was installing metal sheathing on the second-storey roof of the building, when they fell to the ground and suffered fatal injuries. A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that while fall protection equipment was available on site for use at the time of the incident, the worker was not wearing fall protection when they fell from the roof. Matpol Metal Roof Manufacturing Ltd. failed, as a constructor, to ensure that where a worker is exposed to a fall of more than three metres, and it is not practicable to install a guardrail, the worker shall be adequately protected by a method of fall protection, as required by section 26.1(2) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 and contrary to section 23(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. |