A Quebec-based fencing contractor has been fined $65,000 for a 2021 incident that led to injuries to two workers on an Ottawa worksite.

7143818 Ontario Inc., which operates as Regional Fence, was found to have failed, as an employer, to ensure workers were protected from the hazard of a falling stack of fencing.

On October 5, 2021, Regional Fence was contracted to install fencing in multiple locations along OC Transpo’s light rail system.

On the day of the incident, workers were off-loading 24 fence panels from a trailer at OC Transpo’s Corkstown Yard Light Maintenance and Storage Facility near Moodie Station on Corkstown Road in Ottawa.

The panels were in an upright position, held in place by racks. Each panel weighed 26.7 kilograms.

When workers removed the first two panels from the load, the other panels fell forward and injured two of the workers.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the company had failed to move the fencing in a way that did not endanger a worker.

The company was fined $65,000, and the court imposed a 25 percent victim-fine surcharge that is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.