Court Information

Ontario Court of Justice

Date: January 31, 2017

Information No.: 16:07731

Between:

Her Majesty the Queen

— and —

Don Anderson Haulage Ltd.

Sentencing

Before: Justice Joseph F. Kenkel

Date: January 31, 2017

Counsel:

• Mr. Stephane Marinier, counsel for the Federal Crown
• Mr. Michael Anderson, counsel for the defendant

Decision

KENKEL J.:

[1] The company has pleaded guilty to an offence contrary to s. 148(2) of the Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2, where injury was caused. The Crown elected to proceed summarily. The admitted facts disclose further contraventions arising out of the same incident.

[2] In this case a co-op student and part-time employee was operating a crane moving steel beams. He had not been trained in the safe use and operation of that crane. None of the employees present knew he hadn't been fully trained. A beam fell onto a worker crushing his leg. That person was off work for two years and has now returned to the company doing office work as he's unable to resume his prior job as a truck driver.

[3] The Federal Crown and the company jointly submit a fine of $70,000. I find that fine is appropriate in this case for the following reasons:

• the guilty plea at a very early opportunity is an acknowledgement of responsibility and remorse
• the company was cooperative with the investigation
• the company has taken several steps to remedy the deficiencies including bringing in an outside consultant to review all safety issues and acting upon those recommendations
• the company has a good history of workplace safety over 60 years
• the company has provided financial information to the Crown showing significant business losses in the past two years due to external industry factors

[4] I accept that the fine proposed is a significant penalty for this mid-sized company of 100 employees in these circumstances and I find it is otherwise a fit sentence that addresses the purpose and principles of sentence in this context. See: R v. Cotton Felts, [1982] OJ No 178 (CA).

Released: January 31, 2017

Justice Joseph F. Kenkel