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Criminal charges being laid for an occupational fatality in Sault Ste. Marie sets an important precedent.
Sault Ste. Marie (February 18, 2010) - City police have laid criminal charges in the death of public works employee James Vecchio at the city landfill last April.
Shortly after Ontario 's Ministry of Labour confirmed it has laid six charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act Thursday, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service issued a statement that its 10-month investigation into the April 16 fatality is complete.
Vecchio, 34, was one of two city workers doing sewage work in an excavated hole when a mobile crane contracted by the city toppled in and crushed him. The father of two had been been employed by public works for three years.
Charged with criminal negligence causing death are the crane operator and the crane owner. Criminal negligence causing death is an indictable offence for which the maximum sentence is life in prison.
The Company, Millennium Crane Rental, also faces five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including failing to ensure the crane operator was properly licensed. An unnamed employee is to appear in court on one charge.
The Sault Ste. Marie company's charges revolve around the "proper maintenance, operation and use of a crane," and the employee's about operating equipment "in a manner that might endanger himself or another individual," said ministry spokesperson Bruce Skeaff.
Preliminary results suggested the operator of the crane, which was loading concrete into the hole, backed up too far while repositioning.
Labour Minister Peter Fonseca announced last week that ministry inspectors would step up inspections of forklifts and lifting devices this month.
At least 18 workers have died since 2003 as a result of incidents involving lift trucks, reach trucks, forklifts and tow motors. In total, there were 9,455 forklift-related incidents involving a lost-time injury between 1996 and 2008, an average of 727 incidents a year.
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