Inquest into deadly 2009 Toronto scaffolding collapse begins
Posted January 31, 2022 1:54 pm.
Last Updated January 31, 2022 4:01 pm.
A coroner’s inquest into a scaffolding collapse that killed four men in Toronto more than a decade ago started Monday.
The inquest is expected to last one week and hear from four witnesses. The provincial government says the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths.
Dr. John Carlisle, the presiding coroner, said the inquest will look at what led to the deaths and a jury could make recommendations on avoiding similar situations in the future.
“It will be an occasion for the review of everything that has happened, how improvements have been made, and to reassure the public that all that has been done properly,” he said via Monday’s videoconference. “Legal responsibility and blame are not part of an inquest. That was the role of the courts. Those matters have long since been decided.”
The inquest into the incident that killed Fayzullo Fazilov, Alexsandrs Bondarevs, Vladimir Korostin and Aleksey Blumberg was initially scheduled for May 2020 but was postponed.
The four men, who worked for Metron Construction, fell 13 storeys to their deaths after the swing stage they were on suddenly collapsed on Christmas Eve 2009. The men ranged from 21 to 40 years old and were from Latvia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Another worker was seriously injured, and a sixth — who was tethered, as required under provincial law — was left hanging in mid-air but wasn’t hurt.
The project manager, Vadim Kazenelson, managed to hold on to a balcony when the scaffolding gave way. The judge presiding over the case found Kazenelson was aware that protections against falls were not in place but still allowed his workers to board a swing stage that collapsed.
He was later convicted of four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one of causing bodily harm after it was found he was aware that protections against falls were not in place.
Kazenelson was sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars and lost his 2018 appeal.
The construction company, Metron Construction Corp., pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death and was eventually fined $750,000 plus a victim surcharge — the first time in Ontario that the Criminal Code has been used to hold a company responsible for a worker’s death.
Another director, Joel Swartz, was ordered to pay $90,000 plus a $22,500 victim surcharge fine for four convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
