Flex-N-Gate, an automobile parts manufacturer, was charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) after a worker badly injured her foot while unbundling 5200 bounds of metal sheets. At the time of the accident the injured worker was following company procedure. A Ministry of Labour (“MOL”) inspector investigated the accident and issued two orders…
Category: Health and Safety
Expanded OLRB Power to Consider Bill 168 Workplace Harassment Reprisal Complaints
Based on two decisions rendered late last month, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB” or “Board”) has expanded the scope of the Board’s authority to consider complaints arising from the Bill 168 workplace harassment amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA” or “Act”). This moves away from the Board’s decision in Confortia v….
Calf-Roping Fatality Case Ends in $275,000 Fine
The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench has rendered a fine of $275,000 (including victim surcharge) against XI Technologies (“XI”) for its failure to ensure the safety of an employee who was fatally struck and injured while operating a faulty calf-roping machine which had been rented by the employer for use at a client event. This…
Alberta Court of Appeal Upholds Conviction in Calf-Roping Machine Case
In its decision Alberta v. XI Technologies Inc., the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of XI Technologies in relation to the death of an employee who was operating a faulty calf-roping machine at an employer hosted-event, concluding that the employer failed to do all that was reasonably practicable to avoid the foreseeable risks…
Majority of SCC Finds Employer Exceeded its Management Rights in Implementing Random Alcohol Testing Policy
Today, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld an arbitration award which concluded that a random alcohol testing policy for use in a safety sensitive workplace was not justified. In the absence of evidence of an existing workplace alcohol use problem, it concluded that a dangerous workplace was not, on its own, reason…
Federal Appeals Officer Confirms Work Refusal Must Be Based on More Than “Hypothesis or Conjecture”
The Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada has found that there was insufficient evidence of radiation contamination on parcels arriving from Japan after the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011 to warrant a work refusal at a mail sorting facility. For a reasonable expectation of danger to exist, there must be more than hypothesis or conjecture….
Termination of Employee Following Work Refusal Results in Finding of Reprisal
The Ontario Labour Relations Board has found an employer violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) when it immediately terminated an employee instead of taking any steps whatsoever to investigate a work refusal. The employee was a probationary truck driver who had worked with the employer for three months. He felt that the truck…
Finding that Non-Worker Injury Reportable Under OHSA Overturned by Court of Appeal
Today, the Court of Appeal for Ontario rendered its long anticipated decision in Blue Mountain Resorts Limited v. Ontario (Labour). It overturned a finding of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, upheld on judicial review by the Divisional Court, that the drowning of a Blue Mountain hotel guest in the hotel’s swimming pool was reportable under…
Numerous Errors by Justice of the Peace Result in Overturned OHSA Conviction
In R. v. 679052 Ontario Limited (c.o.b. Auction Reconditioning Centre), the Ontario Court of Justice reaffirmed that active supervision of an employee is not required at all times. Moreover, where an employee is properly instructed not to do a task and the employer has no reason to believe the employee will do that task, the…
Alberta Court of Appeal Grants Leave to Appeal in Case Regarding Employer’s Health and Safety Obligations
Clearing the path for a future decision which is likely to provide further clarity on an employer’s health and safety obligations, the Alberta Court of Appeal has granted an employer’s application for leave to appeal in R. v. XI Technologies, in which it was found liable under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”)…