Ontario Construction News staff writer
A Toronto-based utility contractor has been fined $175,000 after pleading guilty in connection with a workplace fatality at a King City excavation site in July 2024.
Aecon Utilities Inc. was convicted in the Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket following a guilty plea entered March 26.
The company was fined by Justice Edward Prutschi after being found to have failed to ensure equipment was not used under weather conditions where its operation was likely to endanger a worker, contrary to section 93(2)(b) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 and section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Crown counsel in the case was David McCaskill. The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as required under the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is directed to a provincial fund that assists victims of crime.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the incident happened July 30, 2024, while Aecon Utilities Inc. was installing a new underground utility service at a residential property on King Road in King City. Excavation work had been carried out to expose an existing pipeline, and a trench shoring box system had been installed to support the excavation walls.
While a worker was inside the trench connecting the new utility service to the pipeline, weather conditions deteriorated and heavy rainfall began. Rainwater mixed with silt and soil entered the excavation forming a rapidly accumulating slurry. The worker became trapped and was fatally injured as water levels rose quickly.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigated the incident, examining engineering aspects of the trench, pumping capacity and site conditions. Investigators concluded the volume of rainfall and sediment entering the excavation made it impossible to safely dewater the trench, and that continuing to use equipment under those conditions created a hazard to workers.
As a result, the court found the company failed to ensure equipment was not used when weather conditions made its use likely to endanger a worker, contrary to provincial occupational health and safety legislation.
