Delta Elevator fined $75,000 after worker injured in fall in London, Ont.

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The Delta Elevator Company has been fined $75,000 by an Ontario court after one of its workers was injured in a fall at a worksite in London, Ont., after a guardrail was removed.

The incident happened on Dec. 15, 2022, after the company was hired to modernize two elevators in a multi-level apartment building and brought in a sub-contractor to do electrical work.

To reach the elevator room, the electrical worker had to climb a 13-tread flight of stairs from the broiler room. The landing at the top of the staircase had no barrier around the open side of the stairway. The metal guardrail had been removed by Delta workers to create room to move equipment.

On December 15, 2022, the electrical worker completed installation of new lighting and other electrical equipment in the elevator room. To clean up the work area, the worker threw cardboard waste down to the broiler room floor. While doing that, they fell nine feet to the floor below, sustaining injuries.

Delta Elevator Company Limited failed to ensure the measures and procedures requiring a guardrail under section 26.1(1) of the Regulation for Construction were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Following a guilty plea, Delta Elevator Company Limited was fined $75,000. 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.