Just over a year after a worker was critically injured in a fall from a stepladder, Maxill, Inc. in St. Thomas, Ont. has been fined $50,000.
The consumer and professional dental products company was also handed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act.
According to the Ministry of Labour, a worker was assigned to inspect the drains on the roof of the building at 80 Elm Street in St. Thomas on Sept. 18, 2018.
To get to the roof, the worker “had to climb a six-foot aluminum stepladder to reach a vertical fixed access ladder attached to the side of the building, while carrying a five-gallon pail with tools and other equipment,” a statement from the ministry read.
The ministry says the stepladder tipped over as the worker stood atop it and reached for the fixed access ladder.
The ministry did not provide specific details, but said the worker fell to a concrete pad below and sustained “a critical injury.”
The investigation found that there was “no safe means” to access the roof and there was still an 18-inch gap between the top of the stepladder and the bottom of the fixed access ladder. As well, the manufacturer’s instructions for the stepladder stated that the top should not be used as a step.
Maxill pleaded guilty to failing to “take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker at the workplace” and was convicted on Nov. 18, 2019.
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