Fatal injury in northwestern Ontario spurs six orders

THUNDER BAY, Ont (Canadian OH&S News)

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MoL) has issued six orders to two companies after a worker was fatally injured in Thunder Bay on April 9.

At about 1:30 pm, the employee of LTL Contracting was working at the Thunder Bay Country Club construction site when he was struck by equipment, sustaining life-threatening injuries, says a spokesman for the Thunder Bay Police Service. The worker was transported to Thunder Bay Regional Hospital by ambulance, where he succumbed to his injuries, the spokesman says, adding that the worker’s name is being held pending notification of next of kin.

MoL spokesman Matt Blajer says that the ministry has determined that the worker was run over by a dump truck that was backing up. Four orders have been issued to LTL Contracting and two to the site’s constructor, Design Build Thunder Bay.

The employer was ordered to ensure that vehicles, machines and equipment at a project are not operated in reverse unless there is no practical alternative, as stated in Section 104(2) of the Regulations for Construction Projects. The employer was also issued a stop-work order prohibiting vehicles on site from reversing until a suitable back-up plan is put in place.

Another order was issued under Section 104(3) of the construction regulations, which says that vehicles, machines and equipment shall be assisted by signallers when the operator’s view of the intended path of travel is obscured. A second stop-work order will remain in effect until signallers have been put in place, Blajer says.

For their part, Design Build Thunder Bay was ordered to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed by the Regulations for Construction Projects and the Occupational Health and Safety Act are carried out on a project. The constructor was also ordered to review Section 104 of the construction regulations in its entirety.

Besides the aforementioned sections of the regulations, workplace parties are required to ensure that:

— every project is planned and organized so that vehicles, machines and equipment are not operated in reverse or are operated in reverse as little as possible;

— signallers are used if shovels, backhoes and similar excavating machines, cranes or hoisting devices are used;

— the operator and signaller jointly establish procedures by which the signaller assists the operators; and,

— if it is not possible to carry out the project without some operation of vehicles and equipment in reverse, signs are posting in conspicuous places warning workers of danger.