New Criminal Code (C-45) Safety Charge in Canada
Feb 12, 2010
3 Comments
Just saw this on the CSSE Twitter….a new Criminal Code Charge (Bill C-45) has been laid in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario following a fatality at a landfill site. The Ministry of Labour has laid 6 charges under the OHS Act and the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services have just laid a criminal negligence causing death charge under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Apparently a crane toppled over into an excavation and crushed a worker. The crane operator, the crane owner and the crane rental firm have been charged under the CCC.
More information can be found here.
Check out my previous post on C-45 6 Years In.
Cause safety to happen today in your workplace…Andrew…a Canadian Safety Guy
Based in Edmonton, Alberta Andrew is a Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Professional with over 20 years of experience working with internal and external clients.
Andrew,
It will be interesting to see if the criminal charges are eventually dropped due to plea bargaining. I think the most impact that criminal charges have had in the past is that they allow the maximum penalties under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to stick.
Phil
It’s a shame that only one side was mentioned by the media in this case. The city of sault ste. marie has all been charged with the same charges as well as several more by the ministry. The city was also issued several stop work orders. Also, the city employee that dug the “hole”also got charged because he did not properly slope the hole. It is also important to say that the supervisor and the forman for the city of sault ste. marie are also facing criminal negligence charges. The city got a media ban placing all the public guilt soley on the crane company. So for men in total were charged with CN. Are they all guilty? I’d say the only person guilty is the guy that got killed as he was not supposed to even be on that job site and decided to put himself in a hole with vertical walls 10 feet high with no chance on getting out if the bank collapesed.
Here's an update on the story from the Sault Star. Additional detail regarding the charges under the Ontario OHS Act have been added:
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=24...