Network Site Services Inc.—a subcontracting company hired to erect street lighting—and its owner, Donald Medeiros of Cambridge, Ont., have been fined a total of $48,000 for violations of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act.
On October 4, 2010, workers were installing street lamp posts on a project located at Timber Creek Crescent in Cambridge. Two workers were placing a lamp post into an excavation when the post struck overhead power lines, causing the system ground neutral conductor to be burned and severed. There were no injuries to the workers.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found there were no written procedures for the placement of the posts, nor had the workers received adequate training about working with overhead powerlines. Regulation 213/91 states that no object should be brought within 3 metres of energized overhead electrical power lines.
The company and owner pleaded guilty and were fined $40,000 and $8000, respectively. Both defendants had prior convictions.
