Fatal Fall Results in $150,000 Fine for Windsor Company

Vollmer Inc., 3822 Sandwich Street, a multi-trade construction contractor located in Windsor has been convicted on the 12th of October 2018, after a worker was killed after falling through a skylight in a building that was having new electrical equipment installed back in November of 2016. The accident occurred in a commercial/industrial building on Kew Drive in Windsor.

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea, Vollmer Inc. was fined $150,000 by Justice of the Peace Susan Hoffman; Crown Counsel David McCaskill.

• 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:

• Vollmer Inc. was working on a project that involvement installing new electrical equipment and cable for new machinery being set up in a Windsor plant.

• A worker, along with a crew, was engaged in pulling lengths of heavy electrical cable onto the roof of the plant. During a break, the worker was observed in an area of the roof; the crew heard a crash, saw a shattered skylight and the worker on the concrete floor directly below.

• The fallen worker was taken to hospital and pronounced deceased.

• Although the skylights still had all of their covers on them, there were no guardrails, protective coverings or other means of fall protection installed or implemented to protect workers from the danger of failing through the skylights on the roof of the project.

• The Construction Projects Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91) requires that workers use and be trained in the use of a fall protection system when working at heights (Section 26.2(1.1).