Excerpt from the Ontario Government’s ‘Newsroom’
The Wesbell Group of Technologies Inc., a Toronto telecommunications company, was fined $200,000 on July 21, 2009, for violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after two workers were killed.
A Co-ordination Document
In a Confined Space with multi-employer involvement, rules are applied if the workers of more than one employer perform work in the same confined space or related work with respect to the same confined space. Before any worker enters the confined space or begins related work with respect to the confined space, the lead employer shall prepare a co-ordination document to ensure that the duties imposed on employers are performed in a way that protects the health and safety of all workers in or around the confined space. The co-ordination document may provide for the performance of a duty or duties by one or more employers on behalf of one or more of the employers, with respect to some or all of the workers.
A copy of the co-ordination document shall be provided to:
a) Each employer of workers who perform work in the same confined space; and
b) The JHSC or Health & Safety representative, if any, for each employer of workers who perform work in the same confined space.
The main reason accidents occur in or around ‘Confined Spaces’ is because a PLAN has not been developed, by the employer, per the regulations.