The Crown appealed a sentence appeal decision arising from two workplace safety convictions after a factory worker was seriously injured by falling sheet metal.
The Court of Appeal held that an employer's compliance with a post-accident inspector's order under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is not a mitigating factor where the compliance was statutorily required, because treating it as mitigating would undermine accident prevention and deterrence.
The court further held that there is no jurisdiction to impose concurrent fines for separate OHSA contraventions.
The original fines of $25,000 on each count, totalling $50,000, were reinstated, although no repayment of the earlier refund was ordered.
