Skip to content

Brought to you by

Dentons logo

Canadian Occupational Health & Safety Law

Keeping you current on OHS Laws and Developments in Canada.

open menu close menu

Canadian Occupational Health & Safety Law

  • Home
  • About Us

Lack of remorse results in 4 month jail sentence for supervisor in fatal trench incident

By Cristina Wendel
November 3, 2017
  • Caselaw Developments
  • Prosecutions / Charges
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via email Share on LinkedIn

An Alberta judge cited a lack of remorse as a factor warranting a 4 month jail term for a supervisor of a work site. The supervisor, as well as his employer, had been charged with a variety of offences stemming from an incident that occurred in April 2015 where a trench at an infill housing construction site collapsed, fatally injuring a worker. The worker was a casual day labourer who had been working in the trench to install new water and sewer lines. The trench was not braced in any way, contrary to the legislation, and a wall collapsed, trapping the worker inside the trench where he died. The employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker and the supervisor pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of another worker.

While a guilty plea will often be considered a mitigating factor, it did not have that effect in this case. The judge found that the employer and the supervisor had exploited a vulnerable worker for profit and put their own interests ahead of safety and the requirements in the regulations. Therefore, the judge found that jail time was appropriate as the supervisor’s culpability was very high.

The employer was sentenced to a fine of $425,000 plus the victim fine surcharge of $63,750. However, the judge noted that the employer was a company without assets and she acknowledged that it was unlikely to pay the fine. Nevertheless, the judge considered it appropriate to issue a large fine in order to have an impact on other corporations who may be motivated to conduct business in a similar manner.

The developer of the worksite had previously pleaded guilty as the prime contractor to the charge of failing to ensure the legislation was complied with on a work site. The developer had agreed to a fine of $111,250 and a $50,000 contribution in the worker’s name to an organization where he had previously accessed services to assist in providing safety training and equipment to day labourers.

This case is a clear example of an increasing trend across Canada where courts are willing to sentence supervisors to jail time for occupational health and safety offences. Jail time sentences are likely to continue to be imposed and, as this case demonstrates, the sentences are likely to become longer.

See here for a list of charges (charged is: Haya Homes Ltd., Sahib Contracting Inc., Sukhwinder Nagra).

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via email Share on LinkedIn
Subscribe and stay updated
Receive our latest blog posts by email.
Stay in Touch
Cristina Wendel

About Cristina Wendel

Cristina advises and represents employers in all aspects of occupational health and safety matters, including day-to-day compliance, incident response, investigations and defending employers charged with occupational health and safety offences. She also represents federally and provincially regulated, unionized and non-unionized employers in a variety of employment and labour law matters such as wrongful dismissal claims, employment standards disputes, human rights issues, labour arbitrations and labour relations board proceedings.

All posts Full bio

RELATED POSTS

  • Caselaw Developments
  • Government Safety Investigations
  • Safety Professionals - Practice Issues

Employer did not discourage workers from reporting accidents to WSIB: WSIAT

A worker who delayed reporting an alleged workplace accident has claimed that his employer discouraged employees from reporting, but the Ontario […]

By Adrian Miedema
  • Caselaw Developments
  • Government Safety Investigations
  • Prosecutions / Charges

Total fines now $1.24 million in Christmas Eve fatalities after swing stage company and director fined

The total of safety fines paid for the December 24, 2009 swing stage collapse fatalities is now $1,240,000 after Swing […]

By Adrian Miedema
  • Caselaw Developments
  • Safety - Risk Management
  • Safety Professionals - Practice Issues

Men without hardhats: where freedom of religion loses out to workplace safety

Freedom of religion and the duty to accommodate within the workplace context is a highly important issue in Québec given […]

By Virginie Dandurand

About Dentons

Dentons is the world’s largest law firm, delivering quality and value to clients around the globe. Dentons is a leader on the Acritas Global Elite Brand Index, a BTI Client Service 30 Award winner and recognized by prominent business and legal publications for its innovations in client service, including founding Nextlaw Labs and the Nextlaw Global Referral Network. Dentons’ polycentric approach and world-class talent challenge the status quo to advance client interests in the communities in which we live and work. www.dentons.com.

Digital Dentons

Twitter

Categories

  • Amendments to Safety Laws
  • Caselaw Developments
  • COVID-19
  • General
  • Government Safety Investigations
  • International Standards
  • Other Safety Developments
  • Prosecutions / Charges
  • Safety – Risk Management
  • Safety Professionals – Practice Issues
  • Violence and Harassment

Subscribe and stay updated

Receive our latest blog posts by email.

Stay in Touch

Dentons logo

© 2021 Dentons

  • Legal notices
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
  • Cookies on this site