Constant Supervision Not Required By OHSA: Ontario Court

The Occupational Health and Safety Act does not require that workers be "contemporaneously supervised at all times", an Ontario appeal judge has held, dismissing two charges.

In a bizarre accident, an 18-year-old worker at a company that washed cars prior to their sale at an auction, drove a vehicle into a wash bay setting off a chain of collisions between two other cars and resulting in another employee, further up the line, being injured.

The worker had been told twice by a manager not to drive, initially when he was hired and again on the day of the incident. He admitted that he was aware of the safety policy of the appellant that in order "To drive a vehicle on the property you must have a valid driver's licence." He did not have a driver's licence.