Workplace Injury Results in $68,000 Fine for Woodbridge Company

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Convicted: Innovative Metal Works Inc.,196 Chrislea Road, Woodbridge, Ontario, a company that manufactures and installs structural steel at construction projects.

Location of Workplace: Construction project at 180 Main Street South, Newmarket, Ontario.

Description of Offence: A worker sustained critical injuries after a nylon hoisting strap holding a lateral assembly beam to a crane broke, causing the beam to swing and fall. By not ensuring to take steps to protect the nylon hoisting strap from being cut, Innovative Metal Works Inc. failed, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 172(3) of the Regulation for Construction Projects were carried out at the workplace, contrary section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: February 27, 2023

Date of Conviction: September 20, 2024

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Newmarket, Innovative Metal Works Ltd. was fined $68,000 by Justice of the Peace Raimondo Maltese; Crown Counsel was Judy Chan.
• 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:

• Innovative Metal Works Ltd. was contracted to erect the steel for a new three-storey addition on a hotel construction project.
• On February 27, 2023, the company had three workers erecting the steel for the new addition. One worker was at ground level rigging loads to a crane to be hoisted and the other workers were on the third level with two scissor lifts used to install and connect the beams once hoisted.
• The ground-level worker connected one end of a nylon hoisting strap to the centre of a lateral assembly beam with a choke hitch and attached the other end of the nylon hoisting strap to the crane hook block. The crane then lifted the beam to be placed and connected.
• The lateral assembly beam, still being moved by the crane, was near its final position and ready to be bolted into place when the nylon hoisting strap holding it to the crane broke, causing the beam to swing and fall critically injuring the ground-level worker.
• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the nylon hoisting strap used to hoist the lateral assembly beam was cut when it came into contact with the sharp capping plate on the assembly. There was no evidence of edge protection being used to preserve the integrity of the nylon hoisting strap as it contacted sharp edges on the assembly.
• Innovative Metal Works Ltd., as an employer, failed to ensure that the measures and procedures were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c)of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

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