Sudbury-area construction company fined $175K for worker's death in Marathon, Ont.

R.M. Belanger Ltd., a Chelmsford-based construction company, has been fined $175,000 for the 2019 death of a worker on a job site in Marathon, Ont. (Supplied)

Sudbury -

R.M. Belanger Ltd., a Chelmsford-based construction company, has been fined $175,000 for the 2019 death of a worker on a job site in Marathon, Ont.

"A worker was killed when a bridge that was being jacked into place collapsed," said a news release from Ministry of Labour, Training, and Skills Development on Tuesday.

"The company failed to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring a safe procedure was used for jacking down a temporary modular bridge."

The company pleaded guilty to failing as an employer to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The company was convicted July 9, and the penalty includes 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.

The worker was killed while working on a Ministry of Transportation Ontario contract to replace a culvert at Angler Creek, just west of Marathon.

"A 120-foot long temporary modular bridge was to be assembled and installed to carry road traffic in order to accommodate replacement of the existing culvert," the release said.

"The bridge was assembled on the road on the east side of the creek, then pushed across the creek on rollers and set down on concrete landing pads."

According to the sequence of events from the Ministry, on that day, a crew of eight Belanger employees were at the site. The bridge was moved across the creek and was set down on pillars of 6x6 wood cribbing at each corner.

"Bottle jacks were to be used to jack the bridge down in stages, removing cribbing as it was lowered," the release said. "Seven of the eight crew were engaged in this operation. A supervisor was directing the workers in the lowering of the bridge."

Lowering the bridge was to be accomplished by using two bottle jacks on each corner. One jack would take the weight of the bridge while cribbing was removed from one side of each cribbing tower. A second jack would then take the weight while the first jack was removed and cribbing taken from the other side of the tower.

The bridge would thus be lowered one step at a time by releasing pressure with a valve on the bottle jack, a process overseen by a supervisor on the site.

"At one point in the process it was observed that a jack at the northwest corner was starting to lean," the release said.

18-ton bridge collapsed

"The supervisor went to that corner to observe the jack. While the supervisor turned to return to the work station, that jack tipped over, allowing the 18-ton bridge to collapse. It tipped from the jacks at three of the corners."

A worker who was not involved in moving or jacking was sitting on the concrete landing pad and was crushed by the frame of the bridge, suffering fatal injuries. Another worker suffered non-critical injuries as the bridge fell and moved to the side.

The worker who died had about 15 minutes earlier been sitting on a pile of discarded cribbing but had been asked to move.

An investigation by the ministry failed determine the exact cause of the bridge collapse. However, a number of factors were found to have contributed to the collapse and the resulting fatality.

For example, provincial laws prohibits a worker who is not directly involved in the movement of a structure from being near it. The deceased worker was not involved in the jacking of the bridge.

"The manufacturers’ operating manuals for the bottle jacks being used all caution against workers being under an object being supported by the jack," the release said.

"In addition to the deceased worker, who was sitting under the frame of the bridge when it collapsed, all of those involved in jacking the bridge were at times under the structure to utilize the jacks."

And the manufacturer of the temporary modular bridge cautioned against both ends of the bridge being jacked at the same time. Its operating manual requires that one end always be secured against accidental movement when the other end is being supported on jacks.

At the time of the bridge collapse, both ends of the bridge were supported only by bottle jacks.

Other issues include the fact the bridge was supposed to be supported on soil at specified locations where the composition and contours of the soil could support them.

"The cribbing towers, however, were erected on ground that had not been analyzed in the engineering process and was adjacent to sloped ground," the release said.

And a mechanical means of ensuring the bridge was balanced – such as a central hydraulic line going to both sides of each end of the bridge -- wasn't used, and instead the supervisor relied on visuals.

This is a second conviction in recent months for Belanger. On Feb. 26, the company was convicted under the same violation of the OHSA and fined $210,000 when a worker was killed at a golf course near Sudbury.

That worker was struck by a wooden telephone pole while it was being loaded with a forklift onto a trailer.

Read the full decision here.