A sewer and watermain construction company based in Maple, Ont., has been fined $250,000 after a workplace accident during a road widening project in Ajax, Ont., resulted in the deaths of two workers and injuries to two others.
Direct Underground Inc. pleaded guilty in Provincial Offences Court in Oshawa, Ont., to failing to ensure the excavation site was properly secured, a violation of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Justice Lara A. Crawford imposed the penalty, which includes a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge to support a provincial fund for victims of crime.
The incident occurred on Aug. 8, 2022, during the installation of a storm sewer on Rossland Road. A crew of six workers employed by Direct Underground was tasked with installing a catch basin system when the north wall of the excavation collapsed. Two workers were fatally injured, and two others sustained non-fatal injuries.
An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development revealed that the collapse was caused by a weaker layer of Type 3 soil in the excavation, which required additional precautions under Ontario’s construction safety regulations. The ministry found no evidence of an engineering assessment of the wall’s stability and determined that the company failed to install a shoring system or appropriately slope the walls, as required by law.
Under section 234(1) of Ontario Regulation 213/91, employers must implement measures to ensure excavation walls are stable and secure. The ministry concluded that Direct Underground violated these requirements, contravening section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Crown counsel David McCaskill represented the case, which resulted in the company’s guilty plea and subsequent fine.
