Eight workplace safety charges laid in deadly London construction collapse
Only days from its first anniversary, eight workplace safety charges have been laid in the partial collapse of a London apartment building that killed two construction workers and injured five others.
Norman De Bono London Free Press
Scores of emergency personnel converge on the site of an apartment building under construction at 555 Teeple Terrace in London after it partially collapsed on Dec. 11, 2020. Two workers were killed and five others were injured. Two Southwestern Ontario companies that were working on the site and one person who was not named face workplace safety charges, Ontario's Labour Ministry said Monday. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
Only days from its first anniversary, eight workplace safety charges have been laid in the partial collapse of a London apartment building that killed two construction workers and injured five others.
Ontario’s Labour Ministry said Monday charges have been laid under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act against two Southwestern Ontario companies that were working on the site and against one person who was not named.
Tillsonburg-based East Elgin Concrete Forming is charged with one count of “failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health and safety of a worker,” the ministry said.
In addition, ISpan Systems LP, based in Princeton, faces six charges, including one of “failing to ensure that a building, structure or any part thereof, or any other part of a workplace, whether temporary or permanent, is capable of supporting any loads that may be applied to it in accordance with good engineering practice.”
Part of the four-storey apartment building, known as the Nest on Wonderland, collapsed during construction last Dec. 11, with some of the estimated 40 workers on the site describing how they saw a freshly poured concrete section on the fourth floor give way and smash down onto each floor below to the ground, taking the outer wall of the building with it.
Two concrete workers, John Martens, 21, of Langton and Henry Harder, 26, of Tillsonburg died in the partial collapse of the Teeple Terrace project and five workers were injured. They were employed by East Elgin Concrete Forming.
An unnamed person is also charged with “providing advice negligently or incompetently that did endanger a worker.”
The Labour Ministry, which investigates workplace deaths and injuries, concluded its on-site investigation in April.
“My ministry has been working tirelessly to determine the cause of this tragedy, and I’m pleased to see our investigation conclude,” Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton, the MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, said Monday evening.
“Any company in Ontario that thinks worker safety is just the cost of doing business should think twice because they will quickly feel the full force of the law. We owe it to the families, friends and loved ones of the victims, so we can ensure something like this never happens again,” McNaughton said.
Two lawsuits have been filed in the fallout of the deadly collapse at The Nest, at 555 Teeple Terrace at Wonderland Road.
The developer, Nest on Wonderland Inc., is suing its insurance company, Intact Insurance, for $4 million for allegedly not fully covering its damages, and family members of some of the injured workers have filed a $2-million personal injury lawsuit.
Intact recently answered the lawsuit application against it with a “notice of appearance,” acknowledging it had received the application but had not yet responded to it.
In the $2-million lawsuit, Kaitlin Jaklitsch, the wife of Travis Jaklitsch, and Bill and Mary Hurl, parents of Jacob Hurl, workers injured in the collapse, are suing Brock Development Group Inc. (BDGI), Nest on Wonderland Inc., Michelle Doornbosch, who Ontario corporate records showed was listed as president of both companies, her husband Jeremy Doornbosch, city hall and the Labour Ministry.
In their lawsuit, the relatives of the workers contend the owners of the project failed to ensure it complied with Ontario’s Building Code Act and that both city hall and the provincial ministry failed to ensure the safety of the workers.
They also allege the ministry was notified Dec. 11, the day of the collapse, by a subcontractor on the project that there “were structural issues with the building” but that the ministry failed to inspect the complaints, allowing work to continue.
In its statement of defence, city hall denies the allegations against it, adding it bears no responsibility for the collapse or the injuries suffered by the workers. It also alleges it learned after the collapse that changes were made to the building’s design that weren’t approved by city officials.
City hall also claims the builders of the project never requested an inspection of the roof structure before pouring the roof on Dec. 11 and that city building inspectors attended the site several times between June and December of 2020.
The Labour Ministry has filed a notice that it intends to defend itself against the lawsuit. The other defendants, as of late last month, had not yet responded, according to the court file.
Statements of claim, and defences filed in response, contain allegations not yet tested in court.
