TMI Contracting fined $120K after worker killed by dump truck in Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.

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TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental has been fined $120,000 after a worker was fatally struck by a dump truck at a landfill site.

The company was sub-contracted to provide equipment and workers for the grading of soil being brought into a landfill site.

On December 9, 2021, a TMI worker was acting as a signaller for dump trucks unloading soil. The job entailed guiding trucks to the tipping face of the landfill.

That afternoon a truck arrived to dump its load. Contrary to safety procedures, the signaller did not give verbal direction to the driver. Instead, they left their vehicle, walked up the hill towards the dump location and attempted to guide the driver to the proper location. At this point, the driver reversed up the hill and fatally struck the signaller.

TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd. failed to ensure that the signaller communicated with the truck driver by means of a telecommunication system or, where visual signals were clearly visible to the driver, by means of prearranged visual signals, contrary to subsection 106(3) of Regulation 213/91, violating s. 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Last November, Waste Management of Canada Corporation – the owner of the landfill site – pled guilty and was fined for the same offense. Charges were also brought against other sub-contractors involved and the driver of the dump truck. Those cases are ongoing.

Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Newmarket, TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd. was fined $120,000 by Justice of the Peace Rhonda Shusterman. Crown Counsel was Giuseppe Ferraro.

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.