October 30, 2007

Workplace Safety

Judge throws out charges against Enbridge, Warren Bitulithic in fatal pipeline explosion

TORONTO

A judge has thrown out all of the charges against Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. and one of its sub-contractors in a gas-pipeline explosion that killed seven people at a west-end Toronto strip mall.

Provincial Court Justice Mary Hogan cleared, on technical grounds, Enbridge and Precision Utility Ltd. of allegations that they failed to properly locate an underground gas pipeline that was later struck by an excavator, causing a gas leak and subsequent explosion.

The charges were not criminal, but related to labour and natural gas safety regulations.

The April 24, 2003, explosion at the small Bloor Steet West shopping plaza was the largest loss of life by a gas pipeline incident in Canada.

The afternoon explosion destroyed the small commercial plaza, which housed four retailers and five apartments above.

The explosion occurred when Warren Bitulithic Ltd., under contract to the city to do road rehabilitation work, damaged a gas pipeline while digging a shallow drain. In the fall of 2006, Warren pleaded guilty to damaging a natural gas pipeline and was fined $225,000 and a $56,250 victim surcharge.

Enbridge and Precision — one of the companies the gas distributor hired to mark the location of gas lines — were charged by Ontario’s fuel safety watchdog, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), alleging that they had failed to provide the most accurate information possible.

The Ministry of Labour also laid charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act regarding the welfare of workers.

Hogan threw out labour ministry charges against Enbridge and Precision Utility, ruling they were not acting as employers of the workers involved in the blast.

She tossed out the TSSA charges against the two companies, ruling that Warren should not have gone ahead and dug without the proper paperwork confirming all relevant gas lines were located and marked.

A Precision employee had located some gas lines, but inadvertently missed the area where Warren was later to dig and cause the blast, court heard.

TSSA lawyer Tom Ayres and labour ministry lawyer Melanie Shulman said outside court that an appeal has not been ruled out.

Canadian Press

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