When you’re starting to drown between employee concerns, payroll duties and helping your CEO -- HR Insider is there to help get the logistical work out of the way.
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Mid-April to mid-May was the biggest month of the year for reported OHS fines of over $20,000 in terms of both fine volume and fine amounts. There were 12 fines reported across Canada during the period, as opposed to 10 in the previous 4-week period. But the real headline was fine amounts.
Table 1. OHS Fines in 2024 At A Glance (through May 15)
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| Period | Total Reported Fines | Reported 6-Figure Fines |
|---|---|---|
| Jan to mid-Feb | 11 | 6 |
| Mid-Feb to mid-March | 11 | 4 |
| Mid-March to mid-April | 10 | 2 |
| Mid-April to mid-May | 12 | 9 |
| Total | 44 | 21 |
Source: Bongarde
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OHS Fines of $100,000 or More
There were 9 reported OHS fines of 6 figures or more, including 3 of the top 5 highest fines for the year--$600,000 against an Ontario truck manufacturer for a machine shop explosion that killed 6 workers and $360,000 against an Alberta heavy equipment supply company for a crane fatality.
Table 2. Top 5 OHS Fines of 2024 At A Glance (through May 15)
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| Fine Amount | Province | Type of Company/Incident | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $710,488 | British Columbia | Shipyard/Confined space asphyxiation |
| 2 | $600,000 | Ontario | Truck manufacturer/Explosion during handling of flammables resulting in 6 fatalities |
| 3 | $390,000 | Alberta | Oil & gas/Excavation fatality |
| 4 | $360,000 | Alberta | Heavy equipment/Crane fatality |
| 5 | $350,000 | Alberta | Oil & gas/Pressurized materials fatality |
Source: Bongarde
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Ontario has reported the most 6-figure OHS fines of any province with 10 followed closely by Alberta with 8. Together, the 2 provinces have accounted for 4 of the biggest OHS fines of the year. BC, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are the only other provinces that have reported 6-figure OHS fines in 2024 with 1 apiece. All of the top 5 fines have involved critical injury, including 2 cases in which multiple workers died. Oil and gas companies have been on the receiving end of 2 of the top 5 OHS fines.
Overall OHS Fines
Of the 12 significant OHS fines reported from April 10 to mid-May, 6 came from Ontario, including a case in which a company and its corporate director were fined separately for an explosion that killed 6 workers. Alberta reported 3 major fines during the period, all of them in the 6-figure range. Saskatchewan reported 2 big fines, including a province-high $260,000 penalty for a material handling incident. BC was the only other province to make this month’s list.
Table 3. OHS Fines Reported from April 11, to May 15, 2024* (over $20,000)
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| Jurisdiction | Fine | Company | What Happened | Violation(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON | $600,000 | Eastway Tank, Pump and Meter Limited | Fabrication shop explosion during wet testing of tank truck kills 6 workers and seriously injures another | Failure to ensure that: i. diesel fuel to be used for wet testing of trucks wasn’t contaminated with gasoline or other flammable substance; and ii. workers received safety instruction on the proper procedure for storing and handling fuel |
| AB | $360,000 | Isolation Equipment Services Inc. | Overhead crane operator killed after getting pinned by materials being used to position a valve bonnet that fell out of the crane’s rigging | Failure to take measures to eliminate the danger of equipment or material that was dislodged or moved |
| AB | $330,000 | Westpower Equipment Ltd. | Worker operating an overhead crane to install a pump cover gets killed when the pump cover releases from the rigging and hits him | Failure to ensure a worker’s health and safety |
| SK | $260,000 | Richelieu Hardware Canada Ltd. | Worker suffers serious injury while attempting to load a 4,000-pound crate of glass onto a truck | Failure to ensure that a worker required or permitted to assemble, use, maintain or dismantle rigging was trained in safe rigging practices |
| ON | $220,000 | 2236376 Ontario Inc. | Crane that wasn’t de-energized before servicing tips into the platform of a scissor lift causing 2 workers to fall 21.5 feet, one of whom dies | Failure to ensure to ensure that the crane was blocked and prevented from movement during maintenance or troubleshooting |
| ON | $120,000 | TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd. | A traffic signalling breakdown results in a worker’s getting A worker was fatally struck by a dump truck at a landfill site | Failure to ensure that the signaller communicated with the truck driver via a telecommunication system or, where visual signals were clearly visible to the driver, via prearranged visual signals |
| ON | $110,000 | Lactalis Canada Inc. | Dairy plant worker suffers serious burns while trying to repair a Cleaning in Place (CIP) pipeline system | Failure to provide a worker information, instruction and supervision on the safe lockout/tagout of the CIP pipeline system |
| ON | $110,000 | Performance Finishing & Fabrication Inc. | Worker gets killed after being hit by a falling metal beam that wasn’t secured to the forklift carrying it | Failure to ensure that a metal beam was secured and wouldn’t fall while being transported on a forklift |
| AB | $102,000 | Boucher Bros. Lumber Ltd. | Worker contacts the blades of a wood planer and suffers serious hand injuries | Unspecified but probably failure to ensure the blades were properly guarded |
| SK | $95,000 | City of Prince Albert | Worker suffers serious injury after falling more than 3 metres while attempting to dislodge a hose nozzle | Failure to ensure that workers at risk of falling over 3 metres use fall protection |
| BC* | $24,560 | Bluesky Organics Corp | WorkSafeBC inspectors discover that company hasn’t implemented ordered safety measures | Failure to comply with the terms of an OHS order |
* 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
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