On the morning of November 23, 2018. a young worker (25 and younger) worked out of Great Northern Insulation’s Gravenhurst location with a co-worker had just left a work site in Magnetawan in their truck. Court hear that the worker was driving. They had left the worksite because there was no room to park their truck. They we’re going to head to another job site instead. They were in the process of turning around at an intersection in Magnetewan when the driving conditions convinced them to install tire chains as the road was very slippery. The workers were installing chains on the front driver side tire when the truck, which had not been properly immobilized, started rolling and sliding forward and fatally ran the first worker over, before coming to a stop in a snowbank.
The company is charged with failing to take reasonable precautions in the circumstances for the protection of a worker from the hazard of being struck by a moving vehicle not adequately immobilized when installing tire chains contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the OHSA.
Following a guilty plea, Justice of the Peace J. McMahon, sitting in Provincial Offences Court in Parry Sound fined the company $125,000. Crown Counsel: Tom Schneider.
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.