Tuesday, November 30, 2010


CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:
CRIMINAL CHARGES A0GAINST NEGLIGENT COMPANY FOR WORKER DEATH IN ONTARIO:

The following news item about charges of criminal negligence causing death being filed against an Ontario contractor who caused the death of a municipal worker in Sault St. Marie Ontario come from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that the killed person was a member of. A few things should be noted about what follows. One is the actual rarity of such charges under Canadian law. Since 2004 only 4 such cases have been filed. Is this because Canadian employers are exceptionally cautious and follow best practices ? Very doubtful. The workplace death rate in the EU is 2.5/100,000 employees. The USA tops this with a rate of 4.0/100,000. Canada, however, comes in a a whopping 6.8/100,000. The only European country that tops this is Portugal at 7.6/100,000. Canada's workplace deaths are not inevitable, nor accidental. Pretty well all developed countries (and many underdeveloped ones as well) have lower rates. The obvious conclusion...criminal negligence causing death at the workplace in Canada is far more common than the legal cases would indicate. If things happen that others can easily avoid that is "negligence" from at least Molly's definition. Anyways, here's the story.
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Private company facing criminal negligence charges following city worker fatality

A private company is facing criminal charges over an incident that caused the death of a CUPE member.

Millennium Crane Rentals Ltd., the crane operator and the crane owner each face charges of criminal negligence causing death. They are scheduled to be in court in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, November 30 and December 6.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, this is one of just four cases in which a company has been charged under the Criminal Code since Bill C-45 (criminal liability of organizations) became law in 2004.

The bill sets out rules on criminal liability for organizations and their representatives. It establishes that everyone with authority to direct another person’s work has a responsibility, within reason, to prevent bodily harm to those they direct.

“We’re pleased to see the Sault Ste. Marie police and the Ministry of Labour have taken the time to thoroughly investigate the incident, and we’ll be paying close attention to this case” said CUPE National President Paul Moist.

“We’re hopeful that regardless of the outcome, employers will get the message that all levels of management bear a responsibility in making sure workers are protected on the jobsite, so that we can avoid terrible tragedies like this.”

The criminal charges stem from the April 16, 2009 death of municipal worker James Vecchio, who was crushed when a crane fell into an excavated hole he was working in at the Fifth Line Landfill.

Reports in the Sault Star suggest that the crane, which was loading concrete into the hole where Vecchio and another municipal employee were doing sewer work, was repositioning and backed up too far, falling into the hole and pinning Vecchio.

Vecchio, a 34-year old father of two, was rushed to hospital after firefighters extracted him, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other worker was unharmed.

Millennium Crane Rentals, who were under contract with the city, also faces five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act related to the condition of the crane and the qualifications of the operator. A court date for those charges is set for January 10, 2011.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

All criminal charges dropped on DAve Selvers and Millennim Crane. There is so much that the public does not know that is being covered up. This accident should never have happened but because of the City's lack of "due dilligence"  it did happen...and at the expense of someone's life and the reputation of an innocent company and it's owner. The specific's of this accident will come out at the OSHA hearing and I guarantee everybody that the City of Sault Ste. Marie, the "Corporation" responsible for the entire site and everybody on site will be exposed for what and who they really are. It's too bad that an innocent man who was a much loved father, husband and son had to face the consequence's that he did. And, it should be known that his tragic loss is felt by all of us in the industry.Dave SelversPresident Millennium Crane SSMarie.

mollymew said...

I'm glad to hear your side of the story dave, even though I suspect this is a "bot". To my understanding, however, any city or province merely ! sets standards for a workplace and said workplace is required to live up to them. The ONLY way your complaint could have validity, in my mind, is if the City set less than optimum standards AND if you personally were not willing to go over and beyond the "letter of the law" in providing better standards. But, as you say, we'll see with the inquiry.

Anonymous said...

Don't let your "collective" emotions cloud your judgement. The operator of the machine was taking orders from the City of Sault Ste. Marie. Millennium personnel had requested to help plan out this project but request was DENIED. Do you get your info from Syd Ryan?I will let you in on something that is going to come out...the City, one of it's workers and a supervisor had, in the end of the investigation over 20 charges and it was recommended by the Ministry of Labour that charges be applied but for some reason they were not.And these charges were directly related to the causal affect of this tragedy. Millennium was told that there planning was not needed.If you wish to suspect something maybe have a look at the bias dogma you and the public are being fed every day by the anti business community. I personally have been in this industry for over 30 years and 16years as management and owner of Millennium Crane and we DO NOT FOOL AROUND WITH SAFETY. Not because it's mandated but because we all want to leave in tact at the end of the day. Do you think that 32 years in the industry with no F'n accidents is just a stroke of luck? Give your head a shake and quit sipping the koolaid that people like Sid "Vicious" Ryan and other union doe heads are feeding you and the public. Why is it the Millennium is still in business? I'll tell you why it's because we know what we're doing and it's done safely all the F'n time.I am ETC.

mollymew said...

Really ?????
Do you mean to say that the City was in direct charge of the worksite via supervisors employed by said City ?
Also, if you have been the business that long, you are of course familiar with the fact that the piece of legislation under which the charges were laid HAS NEVER SEEN A CONVICTION IN ALL THE YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE. It's window dressing plain and simple. It's not hard to have ones charges dropped if this is the inevitable outcome every sinle time.

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