OHS Fines Scorecard (April 15 to May 15)

It was a robust month for fine volume with 20 significant reported OHS fines of over $25,000 in Canada in the 4-week period from mid-April to mid-May. That matches the biggest month of 2025 and is well above the monthly average of 13.6 for the year. The total fine amount for the period was $2.918 million, the second highest of the year.  

However, fine amounts didn’t keep pace with fine volume. This month’s average fine of $145,900 was just the third highest of the year’s 5 periods and below the average of $171,735 per fine for the entire year. Here are the OHS fine totals for the first 5 months of 2025.   

Table 1. OHS Fines in 2025 At A Glance

Period Total Reported Fines Reported 6-Figure Fines Total Fines Value (in millions of dollars)  Average Fine Amount 
To mid-Jan 7 1 $0.684  $97,714 
Mid-Jan to mid-Feb 20 14 $3.689  $184,450 
Mid-Feb to mid-March 9 5 $2.361  $263,300 
Mid-March to mid-April  12 5 $2.029  $169,083 
Mid-April to mid-May  20 6 $2,918 $145,900
Total 68 31 $11.678  $171,735 

Source: Bongarde

6-Figure OHS Fines  

Only 6 of the 20 reported significant OHS fines during the period totaled $100,000 or more, which is by far the lowest proportion for the year so far. Of the 68 significant fines reported for the year, 31 have been in the 6-figure range. That ratio had been running at or near 50% until this month.     

The month featured the fourth and fifth highest OHS fines of the year. Saskatchewan reported the biggest fine of the period–$575,000 against a steel parts manufacturer for a machine guard violation resulting in serious but nonfatal injuries to a maintenance worker. It was the first 6-figure fine to come out of Saskatchewan this year. Alberta handed out its biggest OHS fine of the year, $500,000, against an energy company, in its capacity as prime contractor, for a welding explosion that killed 2 workers. Another company was fined $50,000 for the same incident.  

Alberta and Ontario reported the only other 6-figure fines during the period. Not surprisingly, 5 of the month’s 6 6-figure fine cases involved at least one fatality. As shown below, Alberta has accounted for 5 of the year’s 10 biggest OHS fines, followed by BC with 4 and Saskatchewan with 1. Curiously, Ontario hasn’t made the Top 10 list even though it’s handed out more fines than any other province.  

Table 2. Top 10 OHS Fines of 2025 (through May 15) 

Fine Amount Province Type of Company/Incident Result
1 $783,068 British Columbia Provincial Government/High-Risk violations for using untrained and unqualified traffic controllers at music festival site. No fatality or injury.
1 $783,068 British Columbia Multiple storage rack violations at 2 Walmart stores. No fatality or injury.
3 $710,000 British Columbia Electrical, lockout, and machine guarding violations at mining company sites. 2 subcontractor workers seriously injured.
4 $575,000 Saskatchewan Machine guarding violation by steel parts manufacturer. Serious injury to 1 worker.
5 $500,000  Alberta  Hot work and OHS program violations by prime contractor resulting in welding explosion at energy site.  2 workers killed. 
6 $495,000  Alberta  Crane rigging violation by energy company*.  Fatality.
7 $374,000  Alberta Hazard assessment violation by mining equipment company*.  Fatality. 
8 $374,000  Alberta   Unspecified violation by crane company*.   Fatality.
9 $365,000  Alberta  Diving operation violations at reservoir site.  Fatality.
10 $351,059  British Columbia Prime contractor/Rooftop derrick cranes incident.  Serious injury. 

* Fine is for company’s role in same incident involving a crane fatality. 

Source: Bongarde 

Ontario continues to lead Canada in reported 6-figure fines with 12, followed closely by Alberta with 11. BC has reported 7 fines in the 6 figures and Saskatchewan 1. 

Table 3. 6-Figures OHS Fines in 2025 By Jurisdiction (through May 15)  

Jurisdiction Reported 6-Figure Fines in 2025
1 Ontario 12
2 Alberta 11
3 British Columbia 7
4 Saskatchewan 1

Source: Bongarde

 Alberta has now tied Ontario for most reported 6-figure fines of the year. BC is close behind with 7. Somewhat surprisingly, no other jurisdiction has yet reported a 6-figure OHS fine in 2025. 

Overall OHS Fines 

After reporting the largest number of significant fines for 2 months in a row, BC fell back to third place this month with only 3 reported. Meanwhile, Ontario which had been in a holding pattern due to provincial elections, began to get its case load caught up with 12 significant fines reported. Alberta reported 4 significant fines during the period. The only other significant fine came from Saskatchewan.  

Table 3. OHS Fines Reported April 15, to May 15, 2025* (over $25,000) 

Jurisdiction Fine Company What Happened Violation(s)
SK $575,000  Evraz Inc. NA Canada  Steel plant worker suffers serious injuries while inspecting the underside of sheet metal as it was being mechanically moved through a metal slitting machine.  Failure to provide an effective safeguard when a worker may contact a dangerous moving part of a machine. 
AB $500,000  Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.  Two oilfield workers are killed when the tank they’re welding on explodes.  Failure, as prime contractor, to establish a system to coordinate safety measures and ensure compliance with OHS laws at the site (supervisor fined $50,000 for same incident—see below). 
AB** $420,000  Volker Stevin Contracting Ltd.  Construction worker dies after getting inadvertently run over by a flatbed truck driven by a supervisor.  Failure to ensure a worker’s health and safety (supervisor fined $60,000 for same incident). 
ON $225,000  Brampton Brick Limited  Worker climbs onto a mud conveyor while a skip hoist device for lifting materials is in automatic mode and the hoist bucket is overhead and is killed when the hoist automatically engages and drops the hoist bucket on him.  Failure to ensure that the machinery in the area was adequately guarded. 

 
ON $140,000  Kingsview Carpentry Ltd.  Construction worker position wooden roof trusses without fall protection is killed after falling from the roof.  Failure to provide a scaffold, suspended work platform, boatswain’s chair, or multi-point suspended work platform.  
ON $110,000  Frontline Cable and Gas Services Inc.  Pressure is accidentally released from a valve cylinder of a machine that should have been blocked as per the operator’s manual causing the machine to lower and fatally crushes the worker trying to fix a leak under the machine.  Failure to ensure that blocking is installed to prevent the collapse or movement of part or all of a piece of equipment that’s being dismantled, altered, or repaired if its collapse or movement may endanger a worker. 
BC  $98,695  Bay Hill Contracting Ltd.  Excavator strikes and damages an underground gas line causing a gas leak.  Failure to accurately determine the location of all underground utilities before excavating with powered equipment. 
BC $93,260  Blackrete Builders Inc.  Two workers are injured when the stairs they’re descending collapse.  Failure to conduct regular inspections of the workplace and structures at intervals that would prevent development of unsafe working conditions. 
ON $80,000  Bellai Brothers Construction Ltd.  Worker is injured while moving a fly form system used for supporting poured concrete slabs on buildings during construction.   Failure to ensure the fly form was stored and moved so as not to endanger the worker.  
ON $78,000  2090716 Ontario Inc. operating as PEC Roof Maintenance  Construction worker repairing a roof suffers critical injury after falling from a ladder that was secured at the top but not the bottom.   Failure to ensure that the ladder was secured at the top and bottom to prevent movement. 
ON $75,000  Compass Minerals Canada Corp.  Electrician repairing a flexible conveyor train suffers critical injuries when the train suddenly starts up.   Failure to ensure that a workplace, travelway, manway, or other area of an underground mine  under repair is closed by barricades, fencing, or other suitable means and warning signs are posted.  
ON $70,000  Spacefile International Corp.  Machine operator is critically injured while operating a brake press to bend a metal sheet.  Failure to ensure the machine was properly guarded. 
ON $65,000  Brampton Brick Limited    Worker is critically injured while cleaning mold from a block machine.  Failure to provide the worker information, instruction, and supervision on how to clean the machine safely. 
ON $65,000  Valley Blades Limited  Worker reaches into machine to remove shavings and suffers serious injury when a rubber glove and sleeve gets entangled and pulls the worker toward the drill.  Failure to ban the worker from wearing loose clothing around a source of entanglement. 
ON $65,000  AMI Attachments Inc.  Young worker gets seriously injured while operating a magnetic lifting device.  Failure to assign a competent person to operate the lifting device, or ensure the operator was instructed and accompanied by a competent person. 
AB**  $60,000  Michael Joseph O’Neill  Construction worker dies after getting inadvertently run over by a flatbed truck driven by a supervisor.  Failure, as a supervisor, to take all precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of a worker under his supervision (employer fined $420,000 for same incident – see above). 
ON $55,000  National Rubber Technologies Corporation  Worker is critically injured while trying to clear a blockage from an SBR granulator machine.   Failure to ensure that the motion from the machine’s rotary valve was stopped before cleaning. 
AB $50,000  Peace Pipefitting Inc.  Two oilfield workers are killed when the tank they’re welding on explodes.  Failure, as supervisor, to implement adequate hot work safety measures (prime contractor fined $500,000 for same incident – see above). 
ON $50,000  Wolf Steel Ltd.  Worker is critically injured while moving pieces of wood on a 4-wheeled wooden cart.   Failure to ensure the cart provided to move materials didn’t endanger a worker’s safety. 
BC $42,590  GForm Enterprises Ltd.  Worker preparing a space to store materials falls through an unsecured floor opening and suffers serious injuries.  Failure to: 

  • Ensure floor openings were securely covered or guarded, a high-risk and repeat violation. 
  • Provide workers with necessary safety information, instruction, and training – a repeat violation. 

* BC OHS fines get reported a month late but are included in the most recent period to ensure continuity and consistency for comparison purposes across all provinces. 

** Fine imposed by a court in a case that went to trial.  

Source: Bongarde