January 7, 2010

Swing-stage tragedy

Industry leaders demand better worker protection, stricter enforcement of safety standards

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Ontario’s building trades community has called for an independent investigator to look at how construction industry practices relate to existing provincial workplace and safety legislation in light of the Toronto Christmas Eve swing-stage tragedy.

"We support the Ontario labour ministry’s investigation, but it is narrowed to what happened to the accident site and what the situation is in Ontario regarding swing stages, scaffolds and fall-arrest systems," says Patrick Dillon, business manager, Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario.

"We are looking for something broader that will look at the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), Workplace Safety and Insurance (WSIB) Act and some of the seedy business practices in our industries."

On the afternoon of Dec. 24 four construction workers plunged 13 storeys to their deaths at a Kipling Avenue apartment restoration work site when a swing stage they were working on came apart.

The accident killed Aleksey Blumberg, Fayzullo Fazilov, Alexander Bondorev and Vladimir Korostin.

A fifth worker, Dilshod Marupov, of Uzbekistan, remains in critical care in hospital after surviving the fall.

The building trades have also offered financial help to assist his family in travelling from Uzbekistan.

"We have also offered to help cover the legal expenses of the families of the men in this incident to make sure they get the entitlements they should be getting," adds Dillon.

"We want to help the families because there is absolutely no reason (they) should be paying for legal advice."

Dillon was joined at a Queen’s Park press conference Thursday morning by Patrick Little, business manager, Ontario Provincial District Council, of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) and Michael Yorke, secretary treasurer, Carpenters District Council of Ontario, in making the call for the independent investigator.

The building trades say the independent investigator should:

• Examine the events, circumstances and factors that contributed to the deaths and injury of those involved in the Christmas Eve accident

• Review the relevance and effectiveness of the OHSA and WSIB Act and related statutes in terms of business practices, prevention, education and safety

• Make recommendations, based on findings of the review and from best practices of other jurisdictions, as to what can be done to enhance both the prevention and the improved safety of workers on construction sites

• Perform their duties without expressing any conclusion or recommendation regarding the civil or criminal liability of any person or organization

• Have the assistance of an expert industry advisory panel.

• Adopt procedures for the expedient and proper conduct of an investigation, including reviewing relevant records and documents and consulting as appropriate; and

• Submit a report to the Minister of Labour, by Dec. 31, 2010.

Dillon stresses that an independent investigator will be able to delve into the underground economy deeper and how it relates to the industry beyond this tragedy in order to help not just migrant workers, but "all of Ontario's voiceless workers."

Labour groups have called for a public inquest into the accident but Labour Minister Peter Fonseca has ruled that out since there are police and labour ministry investigations and a coroner’s inquest all ongoing.

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