More than two years after a worker was critically hurt working on a powerline near Wingham, Hydro One and a supervisor have been hit with hefty fines.
According to the Ontario Minister of Labour Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the power company has been fined $250,000, while one of its supervisors is required to pay $12,000.
The fines stem from a workplace injury that happened on September 25, 2022 on Howick-Turnberry Road near Gilmour Line. Two workers were installing a 21-inch copper wire on a de-energized powerline when one of the workers lost their grip causing the wire to fall and hit a live powerline below. This led to the worker who was still holding an end of the wire to be critically injured.
A ministry investigation that followed found several violations of Electrical Utility Safety Rules. The violations include a failure on the part of job planners in identifying hazards at the specific work location, a lack of account for the wire lengths and line heights when assessing the distance between the workers' insulated boom truck buckets and the live wire, and failure to place a cover-up barrier on the live powerline.
Hydro One pleaded guilty in a Goderich courtroom last November to failing to ensure work performed on or near electrical transmission or distribution systems was performed in accordance with provincial safety regulations. Three months prior to that in August 2024, the supervisor pleaded guilty to failing to take very reasonable precautions to prevent hazards to workers from energized electrical equipment, installations and conductors.
A 25 per cent victim fine surcharge was also imposed on Hydro One and the supervisor as is required by the provincial offences act.