The province has fined two construction companies and two supervisors in the death of a 24-year-old Gatineau man who was killed while working at a construction site in West Ottawa.
Fines totalling $677,500 were handed out to Claridge Homes, Bellai Brothers construction, site supervisor for Claridge, Michael Lwow, and site supervisor for Bellai Brothers, Leo Simard. All of the parties charged in the offence submitted guilty pleas.
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Claridge and Bellai Brothers were each fined $325,000 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Simard received a $15,000 fine and Lwow received a $12,500 fine.
The incident occurred on March 23, 2016, during the construction of a condominium tower at 505 Preston St. near Dow’s Lake.
Olivier Bruneau was working at the site when he was struck by a large piece of ice estimated to be four metres in length and 56 kilograms.
The worker was about approximately 6.2 metres (over 20 feet) from the south wall when he was struck and it was determined that the ice fell from a location near the top of the south wall, but below the metal netting and tarps that were erected to catch potential falling debris.
According to the court report, this came a little over a month after another worker was struck by falling ice at the same site. A fence was erected to catch any more ice but it was removed two days prior to the incident and not replaced after an excavation.
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.
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