A director of a roofing company who had two previous convictions for violating the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act has been sent to jail for one day after he was convicted for the third time. He was also fined $10,000 for the same offence. Jail terms, while still rare, are becoming more common in Ontario for OHSA violations.
The director was charged personally as an employer for failing to ensure that a worker was adequately protected from falling, by use of a travel restraint system, a fall arrest system or a safety net. A Ministry of Labour inspector had caught the worker working at a height of about 26 feet without fall protection.
The director had been convicted two years earlier for the same offence and fined $4,500, and had also been convicted four years earlier for the same offence and fined $2,000.
The MOL’s press release can be read here.
