OHS Fines Scorecard (February 15 to March 15)

With the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) in a temporary holding pattern due to provincial elections, there were only 9 significant OHS fines (that is, fines of over $25,000) reported across Canada in the 4-week period from mid-February to mid-March, 45% of last month’s total. However, robust fine amounts more than made up for slow fine volumes, with the period generating roughly $2.361 million, an average fine of over $263,300 per fine, the highest of 2024 so far and well above last month’s total average fine of $185,000. One-third of the way in, here are the OHS fine totals for the entire reporting year.

Table 1. OHS Fines in 2025 At A Glance

Period	Total Reported Fines	Reported 6-Figure Fines
To mid-Jan	7	1
Mid-Jan to mid-Feb	20	14
Mid-Feb to mid-March	9	5
Total	36	20

Source: Bongarde

6-Figure OHS Fines

Of the 9 significant OHS fines reported in Canada during the period, 5 totaled $100,000 or more. Thus, 20 of 36 reported OHS fines have been in the 6 figure-range, significantly above the normal ratio of roughly 2 in 5 OHS fines being in 6 figures. Surprisingly, only 1 of the 5 reported 6-figure fines of the recent period involved a fatality.

For the second month in a row, BC dished out the year’s highest fine so far, a $783,068 administrative monetary penalty (AMP) against Walmart for multiple storage rack violations observed at 2 of the retail chain’s stores. That would have ranked #2 on last year’s Top 10 OHS fines. Coincidentally, it’s also the same amount as the AMP WorkSafeBC imposed on the provincial government last month for deploying untrained, unsupervised, and improperly equipped personnel to direct traffic on a highway during a music festival. Neither of these cases involved serious injury.

BC also accounted for the year’s second highest total–$710,000 against mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. for a pair of separate incidents resulting in injuries to subcontractor workers. In addition, the recent period witnessed the year’s third largest penalty of $365,000 imposed by Alberta against an irrigation district for violations resulting in a diving fatality at a reservoir site. Here are the top OHS fines of 2025 so far.

Table 2. Top 10 OHS Fines of 2025 So Far

	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	$365,000	Alberta	Diving operation violations at reservoir site.	Fatality.
5	$351,059	British Columbia	Prime contractor/Rooftop derrick cranes incident.	Serious injury.
6	$350,000	Alberta	Pipeline contractor/Machine operator crushed.	Fatality.
7	$250,000	Ontario	Excavation contractor/Trench collapse.	2 workers killed.
8	$250,000	Ontario	Utilities company/Electrocution.	Critical injury.
9	$180,000	Alberta	Traffic control contractor.	Serious injury.
9	$180,000	Ontario	Tool manufacturer/Machine energizes with worker performing troubleshooting inside.	Fatality

Source: Bongarde

The Ontario MOL, which usually reports the most 6-figure OHS fines in a given period, hasn’t reported much news at all since February because of the provincial elections. Now that the elections are over and the government is sworn back in, Ontario will likely resume its reporting on fines and OHS enforcement actions very soon. Meanwhile, BC accounted for the most reported 6-figure OHS fines of the period with 3, including the year’s 2 largest. The other 2 6-figure fines came from Alberta, both of which made the year’s Top 10. reported 4 6-figure fines during the period and BC generated the other 2. No other jurisdiction has yet reported a fine of $100,000 or more in 2025.

	Jurisdiction	Reported 6-Figure Fines in 2025
1	Ontario	8
2	Alberta	6
2	British Columbia	6

Source: Bongarde

Overall OHS Fines

In terms of fine volume, BC handed out the most fines of the period with 5, followed by Alberta with 2. The only other reported OHS fines came from Manitoba and the Federal jurisdiction. Again, the month was unusual in that Ontario didn’t report an OHS fine due to the normal government reporting slowdowns associated with provincial elections.

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

Jurisdiction	Fine	Company	What Happened	Violation(s)
BC	$783,068	Walmart Canada Corp.	WorkSafeBC inspectors observe multiple OHS deficiencies with warehouse storage racks in use at 2 Walmart stores.	Failure to: Ensure the rated capacity of storage racks was clearly posted. Ensure material was placed on storage racks in stable and secure manner and stabilized as necessary. Have a qualified person inspect the storage racks for damage at intervals. Have written instructions available to workers as part of its OHS program.
BC	$710,000	Rio Tinto Alcan Inc.	2 incidents of injury to subcontractor workers, one involving electrical shock and the other machine injury.	Failure to: Implement adequate controls to warn and protect workers from electrical hazards. Ensure a rotary valve on a dust collector was adequately safeguarded or locked out.
AB	$365,000	Eastern Irrigation District	Diver suffers fatal injuries during a dive at the Rolling Hills Reservoir and Lake Newell reservoir gates.	Failure to ensure the flow through the intake of a pipe, tunnel, duct, or similar installation in the vicinity of a dive, was stopped and the intake mechanism was locked out before the dive began.
AB	$180,000	Emcon Services Inc.	A worker cleaning debris on a highway suffers serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle.	Failure to ensure a worker’s health and safety.
BC	$145,441	Jealous Fruits Inc.	Orchard worker jumps out of a tractor with a towed sprayer when it began sliding down a steep slope and suffers serious injuries.	Failure to ensure worker worker was trained in the tractor’s safe operations procedures, adequately supervised when choosing the equipment or performing the work and given the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure their safety.
BC	$62,480	Velocity Cranes Ltd.	WorkSafeBC inspectors looking into a close-call incident at a mixed-use construction site observe multiple crane violations and see similar problems at another of the firm’s sites.	Failure to: Ensure that a load consisting of 2 or more pieces of material was slung according to standards. Ensure rigging and slinging work was done under the direct supervision of qualified workers. Ensure that workers didn’t stand under or pass beneath a suspended load Provide necessary safety information, instruction, training, and supervision.
BC	$50,051	Laprairie Crane (Alberta) Ltd.	WorkSafeBC inspectors determine that a firm providing crane services at an oil and gas site hadn’t inspected the mobile crane in the previous 12 months.	Failure to ensure mobile cranes were inspected at least annually, a repeat violation.
FED	$40,000	Tri Corp Transportation	Worker not wearing fall protection while making repairs to the roof of a 53-foot trailer dies after falling out of a scissor lift.	Failure to ensure safe use of the scissor lift.
MB	$25,000	Travelodge by Wyndham	Hotel worker is fatally shot by robbers while working alone at night.	Failure to develop and implement a workplace violence prevention policy.

*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.

Source: Bongarde