Santoro Construction was the constructor, not employer of worker
Santoro Construction has been fined $90,000 as well as a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge after a worker fell from a ladder and suffered critical injuries while performing electrical wiring work on a renovated office site.
Santoro Construction was the constructor of a project at 27 Fasken Drive in Mississauga, Ont. and had contracted with GMJ Electric to carry out all the electrical installations. GMJ Electric employed the worker.
On May 10, 2016, the worker and a co-worker were tying in and labelling electrical wiring in the ceiling of a renovated office area. The worker was working on the top third rung of a 10-foot step ladder and reaching into an area above the grid of a drop ceiling. The worker fell from the ladder to the floor, suffering critical injuries.
The defendant, Santoro Construction, failed to provide a worker with the equipment appropriate for situations where work cannot be done on or from the ground without hazard to workers.
This was contrary to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, violating section 125(1) of the Construction Projects Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91), which requires a constructor to provide a worker with a scaffold, a suspended work platform, a boatswain's chair or a multi-point suspended work platform in situations where work cannot be done on or from the ground without hazard to workers.
A separate trial will be held with the employer GMJ Electric and an individual as the defendants, scheduled to begin in July 2018.
Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour
