Ontario Maintenance Records: The Repair Came After the Injury

Two maintenance reports at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, a year apart, said a centrifuge's lid strut needed replacing. On August 28, 2024, the lid fell and critically injured a worker. The hospital finished the repair two days later.¹

Ontario ministries announced four enforcement cases in July 2026. The fines total CA$495,000 before surcharges.² The cases concern a delayed repair, inaccurate inspection records, a lack of ladder training and missed water sampling. A report names a defect. The repair resolves it.

Two reports flagged the same strut

The lid strut holds the centrifuge lid open during loading. The hospital's calibration and maintenance reports flagged it for replacement in June 2023 and again in June 2024.

After the second report, the hospital tried to replace it. The replacement part was wrong. The hospital completed the repair on August 30, 2024.

The hospital pleaded guilty to failing to keep the equipment maintained and in good condition under section 25(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The court fined the hospital CA$65,000.

The reports were right both times. About fourteen months after the first, a worker still had to hold the lid open by hand.

The truck's records said there were no defects

At EarthFresh Farms in Burlington, a shunt truck reversed a trailer into a visiting driver, critically injuring them. Investigators found the truck was operating without the connection that powers the trailer's lights and brakes. Its reverse alarm didn't work.³

The employer had told the operator that the brake connector and reverse alarm weren't required because the truck operated off the roadway. EarthFresh pleaded guilty under section 25(2)(h) of the OHSA to failing to ensure the trailer's lights were connected before it moved. The court fined EarthFresh CA$200,000.

At the hospital, the reports named the fault. At EarthFresh, the inspection records said there were no defects.

The worker hadn't been trained for a regular task

A Home Hardware worker regularly climbed an aluminum shelf ladder to check the water level in a fire-system reservoir about ten feet above the floor. The worker fell while climbing down and suffered critical injuries. Investigators found the worker hadn't received ladder safety training during orientation.⁴

The court fined Home Hardware CA$75,000 for failing to provide fixed stairs or an access ladder where workers needed frequent access to elevated equipment. The missing training was an investigation finding, not the charge.

After the incident, the company required spotters and provided ladder safety training. It replaced the shelf ladder with rolling staircase ladders fitted with platforms and guardrails. The maintenance team took over the reservoir checks.

The records named the months of missed sampling

Adair Place Retirement Residence near Tamworth housed up to 27 residents. The company that owned the home also owned its drinking water system. The company and its sole director, Safraz Ally, were each convicted of eleven offences under the Safe Drinking Water Act.⁵

Ally's operator certificate expired in March 2022. He didn't renew it.

The defendants missed raw-water samples in May and October 2022, then in June and July 2023. Distribution samples went untaken in three of the same months.

They also failed to ensure weekly maintenance by a trained person between March 2022 and December 2023. They didn't submit the sampling and maintenance plans ordered by a Provincial Officer. The court imposed CA$155,000 in combined fines, plus CA$38,750 in surcharges.

"Records confirmed the following issues of non-compliance," the ministry wrote, and listed the missed samples month by month.

The repair came after the injury

The four cases raise two questions for operators: do the records match conditions, and has the required work been done?

At the hospital, the reports dated the finding and the repair dated the fix. Between them were about fourteen months and a critical injury.