This case is a reminder that injuries to non-employees can lead to Occupational Health and Safety Act convictions and fines against employers.
A visitor to a self-storage facility in North Bay fell through an open hole in the floor of a storage unit, after he came to the facility to examine a truck that was being stored there. He fell about 6 feet to the concrete floor below and died.
The company that operated the self-storage facility pleaded guilty to the OHSA offence of failing as an employer to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker (failing to ensure that an open hole in the floor of a storage unit was protected by a guardrail or floor covering).
The Ministry of Labour notes, in its Court Bulletin, that the OHSA applies “because there were workers at the site who were exposed to the same hazard and the company is an ’employer'” under the OHSA. That is, even where the injured employee is not a worker / employee, if the injury resulted from a hazard to which workers were also exposed, the OHSA applies and the employer may be charged and fined.
