Ontario Construction News staff writer
A Richmond Hill equipment rental company has been fined $120,000 by a judge after a worker was killed by a dump truck on a landfill site in 2021.
The worker was a signaller who was guiding trucks carrying soil to a tipping face at the landfill.
On Dec. 9, 2021, the worker was on the road when a dump truck approached him. The signaller did not verbally direct the driver, but instead got out of their vehicle, walked up the hill, and attempted to guide them to the proper location.
The driver reversed up the hill and fatally struck the signaller, according to prosecutors.
The equipment rental company, TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd., was fined for failing to protect a worker by ensuring safety measures and procedures were carried out.
“TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd. failed, as an employer, to protect a worker by ensuring the safety measures and procedures required for a signaller were carried out, as outlined in 106(3) of Regulation 213/91 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The company also received a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge.
TMI Contracting and Equipment Rental Ltd. was sub-contracted by Waste Management of Canada Corp., which also owns the landfill site.
Waste Management was fined for the same offence last November.
The driver of the dump truck and other sub-contractors involved are also facing charges.