Share this Story: Company fined after worker falls through skylight in Chelmsford
Company fined after worker falls through skylight in Chelmsford
Donald Macdonald
Dec 01, 2020 • December 1, 2020 • 2 minute read
Sudbury Courthouse
North West Lumber Co. Ltd. has been fined $55,000 after a worker was injured on the job in Chelmsford.
The company, which operates the Home Hardware Building Centre at 3299 Errington Ave. in Chelmsford, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Company fined after worker falls through skylight in Chelmsford Back to video
"A worker who was removing snow from the roof of a shed fell through a skylight. The worker was not using safety equipment as required by law," the Ontario courts said Tuesday in a bulletin.
"Following a guilty plea, North West Lumber Co. Ltd. was fined $55,000 in provincial offences court in Sudbury by Justice of the Peace Kathleen M. Bryant. 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."
The incident occurred on Feb. 27, 2018. Staff noticed "structural deformation of a horizontal support beam on the west side" of a shed used to house building supplies and lumber.
It was a very snowy year and a large amount of powder had accumulated on the roof.
"A third-party contractor was employed to remove the snow load with the assistance of NWL employees," the court indicated. "A few weeks later, further bowing and cracking of another structural support beam on the east side was observed.
"On Feb. 27, a yard supervisor assembled two employees of (North West Lumber) for the purpose of removing the accumulated snow load to prevent further structural damage to the building. The third-party contractor was not engaged to perform work on this occasion."
The morning of the incident three employees met to discuss their plan of action. They made note of skylights on the shed roof.
"These were sheets of corrugated plastic, each two feet wide and seven feet long, mounted flush to the shingled roof surface," the court noted. "One of the skylights was at a location near the snow to be cleared. No identification markers were placed to demarcate the skylight, which was more than 17 feet above the floor of the shed."
The three employees went up and began pushing snow off the sloped roof, which was more than 11 feet above the ground at the edge.
"None of the three were wearing any type of fall protection equipment and no guardrails were in place at the roof edge or around the skylights. There had been no discussion of fall protection at the morning meeting and no fall protection equipment was provided to the workers by (North West Lumber)," the court noted. "After lunch one of the workers returned to the roof of the shed and continued clearing snow. While doing so the worker stepped on the skylight, broke through and fell to the ground below, suffering injuries."
The injured worker did not have training in working at heights.
The supervisor went up onto the roof to finish clearing the snow and to measure the skylight opening for a temporary cover. The supervisor was not wearing fall protection.
The company was convicted under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires workers to use a safety belt or harness and lifeline when exposed to the hazard of falling more than 3 metres (about 10 feet).