Company pleads guilty to safety violations in Dartmouth scaffold collapse

DARTMOUTH, N.S. — A Lake Echo company has been slapped with $20,000 in financial penalties after pleading guilty to three charges under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with a mishap at a Dartmouth worksite last year that injured two employees.

Culloden Properties Corp. accepted responsibility for the safety violations recently in Dartmouth provincial court and was sentenced by Judge Bronwyn Duffy.

The company was constructing a two-storey house on Clarence Street when the incident occurred Jan. 10, 2022.

Employees Jerry Donovan and Dave Cluett were installing siding at a height of about 5.2 metres when parts of the pumpjack scaffold on which they were working fell off, sending them both to the ground.

Both men were transported to hospital with injuries.

Donovan, who was knocked unconscious in the fall, suffered a traumatic brain injury, a spinal injury, broken ribs, numerous facial fractures, and lacerations to his liver, right kidney and spleen.

After the incident, the work platform was twisted but still resting on its supports on the pumpjack. There were three other men working at the site that day. 

The provincial Labour Department investigated the matter and laid charges against both Culloden and its project manager, Shane Culloden Ross, in December 2022.

Culloden ended up pleading guilty to failing to ensure workers were properly trained in fall protection, using a pumpjack scaffold with more than two persons between supporting poles, and failing to ensure the scaffold was erected, installed, assembled and used in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications.

According to an agreed statement of facts filed with the court, the guardrail being used was not properly installed, the vertical poles were not secured at the base to a safe surface, and the U-shaped work platform was not properly attached to the pole jacks and flipped at the time of the incident.

“The fall was caused by the improper installation and use of the pumpjack scaffold,” the statement of facts says.

Steps taken since incident

Since the mishap, the company and Ross have taken steps to ensure compliance with fall-protection requirements, the court was told.

Culloden paid for fall-protection training for its workers, and Ross obtained a certificate as a scaffold erector to enable him to inspect scaffolding on a job site to ensure it is in safe condition.

The company now subcontracts all siding work to a third-party contractor that maintains required certifications and up-to-date equipment policies. Culloden also inspects the third-party contractor’s equipment prior to its use on each site.

The judge accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from Crown attorney Alex Keaveny and defence lawyer Victor Goldberg and fined Culloden $5,000 on each count, for a total of $15,000.

Duffy also ordered the company to make a $5,000 donation to the labour minister’s public education trust fund. The money is to be directed to pay for safety education at Construction Safety Nova Scotia or another organization approved by the Labour Department.

In addition, Culloden must make five one-hour safety presentations within the next 18 months at venues acceptable to the department. Three of those presentations must be completed within the next year.

Four other safety charges against Culloden were withdrawn after the company was sentenced. Ross still faces eight charges, which are due back in court Feb. 1 for a status report.