Although I am sure a lot of provinces have similar acts maybe they just
call them different names. Here in Ontario, we have the Construction
Safety Act and then the Occupational Health and Safety Act (no, for the
US readers, there is not a error in the name, it is OHSA) also called
the Regulations for Industrial Establishments and finally the Ontario
Building Code Act, which all can call for fines. I don't know what the
fines are, but I saw in the newspaper a week ago that a local trenching
company had allowed a worker to get buried up to his neck. He died, no
precautions were taken. The company was fined over $100,000 and the
company owner was fined $25,000. These seem low to me, but perhaps the
courts take into account the company's ability to pay.
Gary
Daryl Richardson wrote:
> Gary,
>
> Somewhere along the line I'm sure there is an authority that
> can act. If it's not the Village it's the County; if it's not the
> county it's the State (or in Canada's case, it's the Province);
> otherwise there would be no rule of law in the land.
>
> In Alberta's case we have the Province of Alberta Safety Codes
> Act. The 1995 edition of this act provides for a maximum fine of
> $10,000 for a safety violation of the building code plus $1,000 per
> day that the situation remains unsafe for a first offence and double
> those values for subsequent offences. Surprisingly, it's the
> Contractor who is on the hook for the fines not the Design
> Professional. Mind you, I expect that the courts would allow the
> Contractor to recover his losses (at least the initial fine but
> probably not the fine for delay in correcting the safety violation)
> from an incompetent or negligent design professional in at least some
> cases. I'd be surprised (make that astonished) if all other states
> and provinces didn't also have similar legislation in place.
>
> Regards,
>
> H. Daryl Richardson
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary L. Hodgson and Assoc."
> <ghodgson@bellnet.ca>
> To: <seaint@seaint.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 7:04 AM
> Subject: Re: Enforcement Question
>
>
>> Why does the local authority have to have an ordinance to act. Do
>> they not have to enforce the building code? The authority has to
>> protect the public even if the retaining wall is on private
>> property. What about children? Also, Paul has an obligation as an
>> engineer to protect the public and the very first thing I would do if
>> I were in his shoes would be to write a letter to the municipalty,
>> the owner and send copies to my lawyer and the city's lawyer. Been
>> there, done that.
>> Gary
>>
>> Haan, Scott M POA wrote:
>>> If the local government does not have an ordinance giving them
>>> authority to
>>> action against a dangerous structure / condition on private property
>>> then
>>> they have no jurisdiction to due anything about. You can report it
>>> but it
>>> isn't going to help.
>>>
>>> Most local governments will at least have some kind of law to get
>>> rid of
>>> "attractive nuisances" which are like abandoned buildings that
>>> attract kids
>>> but are dangerous or attract vagrants etc... I don't think a
>>> retaining wall
>>> would be considered an attractive nuisance.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Daryl Richardson [mailto:h.d.richardson@shaw.ca] Sent: Friday,
>>> March 07, 2008 8:24 AM
>>> To: seaint@seaint.org
>>> Subject: Re: Enforcement Question
>>>
>>> Paul,
>>>
>>> It might be interesting to see what would happen if you
>>> called the
>>> local television station, or maybe even the local police, since it is a
>>> situation where someone could get very badly hurt.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> H. Daryl Richardson
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Paul Feather" <PFeather@se-solutions.net>
>>> To: <seaint@seaint.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 9:58 AM
>>> Subject: RE: Enforcement Question
>>>
>>>
>>> To quote the report "failure of the retaining wall is inevitable, the
>>> only uncertainty is when".
>>>
>>> They still want nothing to do with it.
>>>
>>> Paul Feather PE, SE
>>> pfeather@SE-Solutions.net
>>> www.SE-Solutions.net
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: sscholl2@juno.com [mailto:sscholl2@juno.com]
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 8:46 PM
>>> To: seaint@seaint.org
>>> Subject: Re: Enforcement Question
>>>
>>> I believe the key is whether or not you indicated to the City: a
>>> potentially dangerous condition; i.e. the possibility of the wall
>>> falling down.
>>>
>>> Stan Scholl, P.E.
>>> Laguna Beach, CA
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