Construction Company Fined $55,000 for Concrete Form Incident

Workers building a facility were stripping forms from a concrete wall that had finished curing. One worker climbed to the top of the wall, rigged the form to a crane and tied off to an adjacent form. As a second worker was prying the first form from the wall, the form the first worker was tied to loosened. It tipped over, bringing the worker with it. He suffered leg injuries. The MOL found that although workers normally leave one or two metal rods in forms to brace them against falling, here the last rod had been removed and then replaced before the worker tied off to the form. The construction company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the forms were moved in a way that wouldn’t endanger a worker and was fined $55,000 [Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd., Govt. News Release, Nov. 29, 2012].