LONDON, Ont. – A construction company based in Watford, Ont. has been convicted of failing to ensure that workers were using fall-protection equipment properly in an incident that left a worker critically injured nearly two years ago. According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL), two employees of Thomson Construction Ltd. were strapping roof trusses onto a hog barn under construction in the Township of Middlesex Centre on Nov. 4, 2015, when one employee stepped on a defective strap, which broke. The worker fell approximately 6.7 metres to the ground and sustained injuries. The MOL found that the victim had been wearing a harness with a lanyard at the time of the accident, but the lanyard had not been connected to an anchor point or lifeline, which is required by law where a worker may fall at least three metres and if it is not feasible to install a guardrail. Thomson eventually pleaded guilty in a London provincial court, and Justice of the Peace Robert J. Lewin fined the company $50,000 on Oct. 2 of this year.