Roofing Company Convicted for Worker’s Fall from Roof

A worker fell about 22 feet off a roof and into a trailer below. He wasn’t wear fall protection at the time. He was hospitalized for two weeks with various injuries. The roofing company was charged with two safety offences. The trial court noted that the company had installed guardrails on the roof and temporary anchor systems, and provided fall protection equipment. But the guardrail was routinely opened so workers could dump garbage off the roof using a motorized buggy. And the company didn’t have a clear process for this garbage disposal technique that covered issues such as when workers needed to be tied off and the safe use of buggies on the roof. So the court convicted the company, ruling that it didn’t exercise due diligence [Ontario (Ministry of Labour) v. Semple Gooder Roofing Corp., [2015] ONCJ 183 (CanLII), April 8, 2015].