The owner of a roofing business has landed in jail for three days after trying to trick a Ministry of Labour inspector following a workplace accident.
Three workers were working on a residential roofing project but the owner did not make fall protection equipment available to them.
According to the MOL press release, after one worker fell 18 feet and injured himself, the owner directed another worker to go up on the roof and set up lifelines and fall protection equipment in order to deceive the MOL inspector.
The owner pleaded guilty to two OHSA offences: attempting to obstruct and interfere with an inspector, and failing to ensure that a worker was protected by a method of fall protection.
The court jailed the owner for three days on the obstruction/interference charge and imposed a $5,000.00 fine on the other charge.
Although for many years there were very few jail terms imposed by courts for OHSA violations, the courts are increasingly willing to impose jail terms for serious violations including attempting to deceive MOL inspectors.
The Ministry of Labour’s press release on this case may be accessed here.
