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M-B Oakville Autohaus fined $65,000 after electrical worker injured

May 26, 2016 | By Renée Francoeur



May 26, 2016 – M-B Oakville Autohaus, also known as 1747808 Ontario Ltd., pleaded guilty and has been fined $65,000 after an employee of an electrical company was seriously injured in a fall of almost 22 ft.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour reported reports the injured worker, an employee of Andrea Electrical Service Ltd., was working as a general labourer alongside an electrical apprentice at the Mercedes Benz car dealership in Oakville, Ont., in February 2014. They were contracted to attend the dealership to determine the source of an electrical short problem in a rooftop heating unit. Both workers were using a Skyjack supplied by the defendant in an area known as the Sprinter Bay.

The electrical apprentice attempted to leave through the Sprinter Bay door to unravel new wires. When he hit the button to open the door, the breaker switch for the door was left in the On position and, therefore, had power. The door then opened and the Skyjack was knocked over, causing injuries to the worker still upon it.

Neither the defendant nor the workers themselves had locked and tagged out the electrical installation while work was being performed in the Sprinter Bay area, nor had the defendant alerted the workers to the hazard created when the door was opened.

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Court was told that the electrical services company had previously done work on the site.

The defendant failed to acquaint the workers from Andrea Electrical Services Ltd. of the hazard of the overhead door opening when using a Skyjack in the Sprinter Bay, contrary to Section 25(2)(d) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Andrea Electrical pleaded guilty and was fined $25,000 in June 2015 for failing to ensure equipment that could endanger a worker had been locked out.

M-B Oakville Autohaus was fined $65,000 for the safety violation in Milton provincial court in May 2016.

In addition to the fines, the court imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge.


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