Flooring company fined $70K after London worker critically injured by carbon monoxide
CBC
A Cambridge, Ont., based flooring company has been fined $70,000 by an Ontario court after a worker in London was critically injured from prolonged carbon monoxide exposure, the province says.
A court bulletin issued on Friday by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said the company, BNE Concrete Floors & Coatings, Inc. had been hired to coat and polish concrete floors at a construction project at 3400 Dingman Dr. for a new warehouse.
The worker was injured on Jan. 4, 2023 while using a polishing machine with an internal combustion engine that ran on propane.
The bulletin says the worker began to feel unwell, left the room and lost consciousness. The worker had been using the machine for roughly 2.5 hours.
"The worker suffered a serious injury from carbon monoxide exposure due to the lack of ventilation in the room," the bulletin reads.
The province says the company failed to ensure adequate ventilation where the machine was being used, in violation of Ontario Regulation 213/91 contrary to the Ontario Health and Safety Act.
The company also took six days to notify the ministry about the incident, in violation of OHSA, the province said.
BNE entered guilty pleas in provincial offences court in London, and was fined $65,000 for violations related to the injury, and $5,000 for the delay in notifying the province.
It was also subject to a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act, the bulletin said.
A request for comment by CBC News to BNE was not returned by publishing time.
