The company that was conducting demolition on a midtown Toronto building facade when it collapsed last year, injuring a worker and several others, has been fined $60,000.
Delsan – A.I.M. Environmental Services Inc., a subcontractor for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, was convicted Thursday under a section of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, according to a bulletin from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.
The ministry said the company “failed to take the reasonable precaution of having an adequate procedure for the protection of workers and pedestrians adjacent to the wall, as required under the law.”
Seven people were sent to hospital on April 18, 2016, after scaffolding and rubble from an exterior wall crashed down on Eglinton Avenue West near Bathurst Street. The building was being torn down to make way for a Crosstown transit station.
Several people, including a six-month-old baby, ended up underneath the debris. One victim, who told reporters last year that she planned to sue the parties involved, said she suffered a spinal fracture and injuries to her head and legs.
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According to a Ministry of Labour summary, prior to the incident, pedestrian traffic was being controlled by two workers, who would use hand signals to communicate with a machine operator who would stop the work while they escorted people through the area.
At one point, a worker mistakenly believed they had received confirmation and brought pedestrians through, though the work was still ongoing. That’s when the collapse occurred, a result of a “latent defect in the wall” the ministry said.
The worker suffered unspecified injuries.
In addition to the $60,000 fine, the company was ordered by the court to pay a victim surcharge of 25 per cent.
With files from Will Campbell and David Shum, Global News
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