BROCKVILLE – A contractor will spend the next month in jail for violating provincial health and safety rules regarding asbestos removal from a Gananoque home.
Daniel Lane of Bolton, Ont. was sentenced in a Brockville court Thursday after being convicted on all nine counts under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Ontario asbestos regulations.
Judge John Doran found “clear deceit and misrepresentation by Lane to the homeowner” and a “total disregard not only for the health and safety of his workers but also for the public.”
Lane’s company, HomeSeal, had been hired in August 2014 to remove asbestos from the attic of a home in Gananoque.
Court heard Lane and one other worker had been in the 1,500 square foot attic, which was not sealed off from the rest of the home.
Details from the case show a litany of errors, including no decontamination facilities, no warning signs about asbestos removal at the work site, no protective gear worn by the two workers and respirators that weren’t fit-tested.
The ministries of labour and environment, as well as Kingston police, carried out the joint investigation.
They found 13 large bags with “several hundred pounds” of material containing asbestos, dumped on private property.
In addition to the jail time, Lane has to pay $45,000 in fines, plus a 25 per cent victim surcharge.
Be the first to comment