Ontario Construction News staff writer
D & A Road Services Inc., an asphalt and concrete grinding and milling contractor based in Concord has been fined $125,000 in relation to an April 2021 pedestrian fatality.
The incident happened at the c site on Finch Avenue between Jane Street and Keele Street in Toronto.
According to a report from the Ontario court, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a dump truck in the work zone near a TTC bus stop.
“D & A Road Services Inc. failed to ensure that measures and procedures under section 65 of Ontario regulation 213/91, which requires a fence to be constructed between the public walkway and the project were carried out in the workplace.”
Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, D & A Road Services Inc., was fined $125,000 by Justice Leslie Chapin. Crown Counsel was David McCaskill.
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.
On the day of the fatality, D & A Road Services Inc. was removing asphalt from the roadway on Finch Avenue and loading it into dump trucks operated by separate contractors and work would stop periodically, including to allow pedestrians to travel along the crossing, within the orange barriers, to and from a temporary bus stop.
On April 15, 2021, milling operations stopped when a dump truck reached capacity, requiring it to exit the work area and unload offsite. The dump truck operator stopped to complete administrative paperwork, stationing the loaded dump truck on or near a pedestrian crossing, where the orange barriers had been temporarily moved to restrict pedestrian access to the work zone.
A member of the public was observed entering the work zone past the orange barriers that were left slightly ajar, to retrieve a plastic bag. At the same time, the truck operator finished the paperwork and resumed operating the dump truck, striking the pedestrian who suffered fatal injuries.
The Justice ruled that D & A Road Services Inc. failed, as an employer, to ensure a sturdy fence at least 1.8 metres in height was constructed between the public way and the project, as prescribed under section 65 of Ontario regulation 213/91, contrary to section 25(1)(c) Occupational Health and Safety Act.
