A parts maker for the automobile industry was fined CAD60,000 (USD60,808) in the Ontario Court of Justice after two workers were injured when one was working at height.

Irving Andre, the Justice of Peace, heard that on 20 June 2006, a worker at DDM Plastics Company's Mississauga location was told to stand on a mobile ladder to manually remove and lower bumpers from a storage rack.

Andre heard that this was normally achieved using a reach truck where the worker would be raised and lowered on a platform and be secured by a fall-arrest system. However, the company's reach truck had mechanical problems that day.

When the worker on the ladder tried to pass a bumper to his co-worker below, the ladder tipped and both workers fell to the floor, suffering injuries.

DDM Plastics pleaded guilty to failing as an employer "to ensure that materials, articles or things to be removed from a storage area, pile or rack, were removed in a way that would not endanger a worker's safety".

The court also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge on the total in accordance with the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.