Ontario Construction News staff writer
A Belleville man has been banned from working in construction after he was convicted for the fifth time of failing to provide his workers with fall protection.
The Ministry of Labour says Steven Bell was found guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice this week of failing to take every precaution reasonable to protect a worker from a hazard.
A ministry inspector was at a roofing job in Quinte West on Sept. 5, 2020 when he saw a worker on a pitched roof more than three metres from the ground without any fall protection.
The inspector says Bell, who was on site, had four previous convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for similar offences.
The ministry says Bell was fined $2,000 in 2013 for an incident in which three roofers were not wearing fall protection, and was fined $4,500 for a similar incident involving four roofers a month later.
He received a one-day jail term and a $10,000 fine in 2015 for another incident involving one roofer not wearing fall protection, and was fined $10,000 and given seven days in jail in 2017 for a fifth incident.
The ministry says the latest conviction means Bell is banned from working or employing anyone in the construction industry.