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Convicted: Manotick Concrete Inc., 1249 River Road, Manotick, Ontario, provides concrete forming and foundation supplies to both commercial and residential customers.
Location: The worksite was a home in Greely, Ontario, where a concrete foundation was being poured by the company.
Description of Offence: A worker suffered critical injuries while working as part of a crew pouring concrete into formwork during the construction of the walls of a single family home.
Date of Offence: August 10, 2016.
Date of Conviction: March 29, 2018.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea, the company was fined $70,000 in Ottawa court by Justice of the Peace Herb Kreling; Crown Counsel Katherine Ballwweg.
- The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Background:
- A worker was operating the hose of a concrete pumper truck pouring concrete into the wall forms while standing on an upper level of scaffolding.
- The pumper truck was set up with all four outriggers fully extended and with steel plates under the base of the outriggers. The ground under the pump truck was partially covered in dark brown mulch and consisted of previously excavated soil.
- While pouring the concrete required for foundation, one of the pumper truck’s outrigger hydraulic legs sunk about three feet into the ground, tipping the truck and moving the boom arm of the truck suddenly into a wall, injuring the worker who was operating the hose. The worker suffered critical injuries.
- The Ministry of Labour inspector and engineer called to the scene determined that the primary factor that caused the pumper truck to overturn was that it had been improperly set up: specifically the support area under the outrigger was too small. The support area is the footprint of the solid material placed under the outrigger to distribute the load over a greater surface area to avoid the outrigger sinking into the ground. The pumper truck was not set up according to the specifications in its operator’s manual.
- As such, the defendant, Manotick Concrete Inc., failed to ensure that the outrigger of a concrete pumper truck was sufficiently supported as required by its operating manual. This was contrary to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and a violation of section 93(3) of the Construction Projects Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91): “All vehicles, machines, tools and equipment shall be used in accordance with any operating manuals issued by the manufacturers.”
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