Workplace Injury Results in $70,000 Fine for Paving Company

Convicted: 1000537263 Ontario Inc. operating as Permeable Plus, 382 Kingbrook Drive, Kanata, Ontario, a paving and landscaping company

Location of Workplace: 4221 Moodie Drive, Ottawa, Ontario

Description of Offence: A worker was critically injured by a skid steer that was being operated by another worker. The employer failed to ensure that the skid steer’s operator was adequately trained on its safe operation, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: May 22, 2024

Date of Conviction: September 3, 2026

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in in Ottawa, Permeable Plus was fined $70,000 by Justice of the Peace Karen (Soloman) Baum; Crown Counsel was Daniel Kleiman.
• 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:

• On May 22, 2024, a worker was walking while holding their hand against a tear in a dry-stone bag suspended from the forks of a skid steer being operated by another worker.
• While moving with the machine, the worker's foot became caught under a portion of the machine's right-side track.
• The machine continued to move resulting in critical injuries to the worker. A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the employer did not provide the worker or the skid steer operator with instructions regarding a safe working proximity between workers on foot and a moving skid steer.