KITCHENER, Ont. – A provincial court has sentenced the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ont. to pay a $50,000 fine, plus the standard victim fine surcharge, after eight of the Municipality’s employees were exposed to asbestos for 25 days during a construction project more than a year ago. The workers were removing and replacing equipment in a well house at the Waterloo water-pumping station from Oct. 2 to 27, 2015, according to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL). Over the course of the project, the employees drilled into the interior concrete block walls of the building, which caused asbestos-containing vermiculite to spill out of the holes. At first, the workers were not wearing proper personal protective equipment during the exposure and did not treat the vermiculite as containing asbestos, the MOL stated. The Regional Municipality later pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Kitchener to failing to provide required information about materials containing asbestos to workers, and Justice of the Peace Michael A. Cuthbertson imposed the fine on Jan. 13 of this year.