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Construction firm fined $150k after Caledon incident

November 19, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Written By ALYSSA PARKHILL

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

A Brampton-based construction company has been fined $150,000 after admitting they were at fault for the death of a local man at a construction site in Caledon back in January. 

On Jan 14 last year, Graham Bros. Construction Ltd was working at a construction project at the intersection of King Street and Heart Lake Road in Caledon where one worker, Jacob Lein, lost his life after being struck by a excavator bucket.

Lein alongside two other workers were laying water pipe at the bottom of a trench as part of a resurfacing and watermain repair job on King Street, where one worker operated the hydraulic excavator, and the second acted as a signaller. The third was at the top of one of side of the trench as a ‘pipe layer’, according to the court.  

The excavator bucket was in the center of the trench and out of the view of the operator as well as the catch basin. 

As the bucket was being removed from the trench, it struck the second worker, Lein, and pinned him between the bucket and catch basin. 

The third worker, an off-duty police officer, who was directing traffic at the time, called emergency services immediately. 

On Nov 9, Graham Bros Construction Ltd. was found guilty and was fined $150,000 in provincial offenses court in Caledon by Justice of the Peace Jeannie Anand. 

The court stated that the defendant “failed as a constructor to ensure that a signaller was in full view of the excavator operator.” 

A 25 per cent victim fine surcharge was also imposed as part of the Provincial Offenses Act that is credited to a provincial fund to assist victims of crime, stated the court. 

Lein was 33 years old, a father, and known as a loyal and loving individual to those who knew him. At the time of his death, he lived in Melancthon. 

“Jacob was the definition of a family man, loyal, loving, with a heart of gold. Jacob would take the shirt off his back for anyone in need, no questions asked. He was always the first to help anyone, always the man with the answers… a true jack of all trades,” stated his obituary. 

         

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