Shiu Pong
Construction Ltd. fined $285,000 for health and safety violation
TORONTO, Aug. 25 /CNW/ - Shiu Pong Construction
Ltd., a construction company based in Toronto, was fined $285,000 on
August 24, 2005 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act
that resulted in fatal
injuries
to two workers who fell down an elevator shaft at a construction project
in Toronto.
On
April 26, 2002, the two workers were installing anchor bolts and base
plates on the top floor of a 16-storey building under construction. At the
same time, concrete was being poured by other workers constructing the
floor of the penthouse suite into a form being used to construct a
concrete beam.
The
form began to crack under the weight of the concrete being poured. The two
workers, and a third worker, stepped onto a wooden platform located over
the elevator shaft in order to install metal jacks to shore-up the form
and prevent it from collapsing. While they were attempting this, the side
of the form collapsed, allowing concrete to pour onto the wooden platform
they were standing on. The platform collapsed. One worker was able to jump
to safety, but the two deceased workers fell a total of 18 floors into the
second garage level of the building. The incident occurred at a
construction site at Palace Pier Court on Toronto's lakefront. Shiu Pong
Construction Ltd. was the constructor.
A
Ministry of Labour investigation found that there were no guardrails or
other protective equipment in use around the elevator machine room, and
that a pre-inspection of the form was not completed prior to the concrete
being poured, as required by the Regulations for Construction Projects.
Snap ties were used in the construction of the formwork rather than spin
outs, which may have been safer, as well wood beams were used to build the
platform rather than aluma beams. No engineering design was done for the
construction of the formwork. The platform was not adequate for the
purpose for which it was used, in terms of the safety of the workers.
Shiu
Pong Construction Ltd. pleaded guilty to failing, as a constructor, to
ensure that the formwork was inspected by a professional engineer prior to
the placement of concrete. This was contrary to Section 89(3) of the
Regulation for Construction Projects, and Section 23(1)(a) of the
Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The
Honourable Mr. Justice Ayres V. Couto of the Ontario Court of Justice in
Toronto, fined the company $285,000. In addition, the court 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.
