Ontario contractor fined after formwork, worker tied off to it fall 21 feet at job site

A concrete formwork contractor has been fined $60,000 after a lack of training led to a worker being pulled 21 feet to the ground on a condo construction project in Waterloo, Ont.

Innisfil-based MTN Construction Inc. was handed the fine after a guilty plea April 19 in a Kitchener courtroom. The incident, which resulted in serious injuries to the worker, happened 14 months earlier at a CTN King Inc. high-rise development, for which MTN had been subcontracted to provide the formwork.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MOL), workers were installing column formwork for the walls on the perimeter of the third floor Feb. 10.

“That morning one worker directed the crane operator to lower the first L-shaped form, where it was affixed around the rebar,” the ministry said in a release. “One side of the form was on the exterior south side of the floor, and the other was on the interior east side. The worker installed one shoring post (a type of scaffolding) on an angle to support the interior side of the form. Although it was the normal practice to also brace the exterior side, in this instance no shoring or bracing was installed to support the exterior side.”

Wearing fall protection equipment, the worker tied off to the L-shaped form once it was in place. While the crane operator and worker on the building attempted to get a second piece of formwork aligned, the centre of gravity shifted on the first form and it fell off the edge of the building. The 550-pound form pulled the worker tied off to it 21 feet to the ground, resulting in serious injuries.

A subsequent investigation by the MOL found insufficient training on both formwork bracing and proper tie-off procedures led to the incident.