(TORONTO) – Workplace safety may have taken a huge step forward with the use of a Criminal Code of Canada provision against a Sault Ste. Marie company, says OFL president Sid Ryan.
Millennium Crane Rentals Ltd. will appear in court this week on charges of criminal negligence causing death following a fatal accident last spring, according to an article published yesterday at www.lawtimesnews.com. The charges are as a result of Bill C-45, according to the article.
Bill C-45 amended the Criminal Code of Canada to allow for criminal prosecutions of corporate executives, directors and managers who act wrongfully or neglect to uphold their responsibilities to make and keep workplaces healthy and safe.
It was passed in 2004 following 12 years of lobbying by the United Steelworkers. In the six years since it was passed, but was unused in Ontario, more than 400 workers have been killed on the job. Nearly two million were injured.
With regard to the Sault Ste. Marie case, Ryan said: “Finally we have a police force in Ontario that’s prepared to stand up and tell employers if they kill a worker they’re going to go to jail. Employers will have to sit up and take notice.”
Ryan drew attention to the important and unused Bill C-45 in December 2009. He immediately called for a criminal investigation into the Christmas Eve tragedy in Toronto in which four construction workers died and a fifth was seriously injured.
