WHITBY, ONT. — Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. of Cambridge, Ont., a contractor providing millwrighting, rigging, electrical, piping, sheet metal and HVAC installation services, has been fined following a workplace incident at Whitby’s Gerdau Ameristeel factory in May 2023.
According to an Ontario court bulletin, TradeMark Industrial Inc. was hired to perform maintenance work at the facility.
A few days before the incident, a supervisor instructed a worker to install a butterfly valve on a section of horizontal cooling pipe. The pipefitter told the foreman the bolts available onsite were not the right ones for the job. But the foreman instructed the worker to use them in the interim until the proper bolts could be sourced.
On the day of the incident (May 10, 2023), supervisors instructed another crew to switch and reposition two pipe skids that were attached to the cooling pipe. To do this, a chain fall was installed to support the north side of the pipe, but the south side remained supported only by the incorrect bolts, the bulletin describes.
When the pipe was lifted slightly to create clearance, the south connection failed and the pipe fell, injuring a worker.
A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation determined the pipe was not adequately braced to prevent movement that could affect its stability.
As a result, Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. failed to ensure the measures and procedures as prescribed by section 31(1)(b) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 (Construction Projects) were carried out at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Whitby on March 3, 2026, TradeMark Industrial Inc. was fined $80,000 by Justice of the Peace Louis Bourgon.
