Board of Governors of Exhibition Place fined $100,000
for health and safety violation

SCARBOROUGH, ON, Sept. 11 /CNW/ - The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place, a local board of the City of Toronto that oversees Exhibition Place, was fined $100,000 on September 10, 2007 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in serious burn injuries to two employees.

On August 17, 2005, two electrical workers were investigating the source of a partial power loss to a concession stand when there was an electrical explosion and the workers' clothing caught on fire. Fire extinguishers were used to put out the fire. Both workers suffered second and third degree burns.

At the time of the incident one of the workers had been using a screwdriver trying to pry a fuse from a switch terminal. The incident occurred at an electrical substation at Exhibition Place at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds in downtown Toronto.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found the worker who was using the screwdriver had turned an external switch door handle to the "off" position, but the internal switch mechanism was still in the "on" position. There was a live electrical path at the switch terminal resulting in the explosion when the screwdriver contacted the fuse. Neither of the workers had been provided with, or were wearing any, personal protective equipment.

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place pleaded guilty, as an employer, to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring the two workers were provided with personal protective equipment to protect them from the hazard of electrical shock and burn. This was contrary to Section 25(2)(h) of the act.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Vasillio Fatsis of the Ontario Court of Justice in Scarborough. In addition, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.