NATURE OF THE ORDER:
Province Wide Stop Work Order.
BACKGROUND TO THE ORDER:
A Stop Work Order was issued to our client on July 10, 2018 . The Stop Work Order was subsequently lifted three days later, on July 13, 2018.
On July 16, 2018, a “Stop Work Order for Multiple Work Sites” (the “Order”) was then issued to our client on the the basis that a different OH&S Officer, having “as part of the investigative process conducted a search of the CMIS information system [i.e. the database that OH&S uses to log its interactions with employers]”, was of the opinion that “activities involving working at height involve or are likely to involve a danger to the health and safety of workers at [our client’s] work sites, due to the failure of [our client] to adequately identify and control the hazards and/or enforce work site rules, policies or procedures”. The review in question went back some 7 years, to 2011.
We immediately sought a stay [and review] of the Order. It was lifted two days later, on July 18, 2018.
RESULT OF The REQUEST FOR REVIEW / APPEAL:
On November 5, 2018, the Director of Inspection rescinded the Order, noting in part that the issuing Officer failed to: (i) identify which subsection of the legislation he was relying on; (ii) whether he considered our client to be a prime contractor or employer for the purposes of the Order; whether the Order applied solely to workers of our client at our client’s work sites province-wide, or whether it was intended to apply to any worker who was working at a height greater than 3.0 metres on any work site where our client was operating, or less than 3.0 metres if there was an unusual possibility of injury; and (iv) whether he took the earlier Stop Work Order into account.