Sole Proprietor Penalized $25,000 & Ordered to Do Volunteer Work for Fatal Fall

A worker fell from a roof under construction and later died from his injuries. He’d been wearing a fall arrest harness but it wasn’t connected to his life line. His employer, the sole proprietor of the carpentry company, pleaded guilty to a fall protection violation. At sentencing, the court noted that the employer had made some attempts to comply with the fall protection requirements, including providing the harness and life line, and did show remorse. But the employer also had a prior fall protection violation. So it ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine and $15,000 to the Educational Trust Fund. It also ordered him to provide 200 hours of volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity [R. v. Rusk, [2012] NSPC 17 (CanLII), March 16, 2012].