In the Q4 2013 edition of Piling Canada, James Wishart
wrote about the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R. v.
Metron Construction Corp. (Metron). In that case, the Ontario
Court of Appeal handed out fines to corporate defendants
for criminal negligence that were large enough to
potentially bankrupt the companies. It was held that that the
courts should not take companies’ financial situation into account
when determining fines for criminal negligence. More
recently, Canadian courts have continued to follow this approach
by awarding large fines without consideration of the
financial implications for the companies.
In 2013, the Ontario Court of Justice convicted Sunrise
Propane Energy Group Inc. for multiple regulatory offences
under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA) and
Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The judgement
– R. v. Sunrise Propane Energy, 2016 CarswellOnt 3399 – pertained
to an incident that caused propane explosions in
Toronto in 2008 that killed a young worker and caused a fire.
There were a series of explosions that caused extensive
damage to surrounding properties and injuries to neighbours.
Some surrounding homes were left uninhabitable for
over a year. Approximately 12,000 residents had to evacuate
the area within a 1.6-kilometre radius. Local businesses
were forced to close, and one nearby car dealership was
Instruction,
Information,
Supervision
Failure to take reasonable
safety precautions and
provide adequate training
can result in hefty fines
By Kirk A. Vilks, Fillmore Riley LLP
LEGAL
PHOVOIR/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
PILING CANADA 83
/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
