Bloor Street Explosion – 10 Years Ago Today (April 24)

Dora Carambelas, Tina Kirkimtzis, Robert Fairley, Irene Miyama, Adele Brown, Elizabeth Roy, and Lillian Guglietti; those are the names of the seven people who lost their lives 10 years ago today as a result of utility locate issues.  Today marks the anniversary of the Bloor Street Explosion.  In summary, a problem related to obtaining appropriate locates was the cause of a tremendous explosion at a strip plaza on Bloor Street in the Six Points area of Etobicoke on April 24, 2003.  The incident caused the complete destruction of the plaza and the loss of life for seven people in the plaza.  As a result of the incident, investigations and court proceedings led to the eventual conviction of the excavation company, the utility locator, and Enbridge with penalties of $1.4 million in total.  There are a number of articles in our blog related to this incident and more information in the Locate Resources section of our website.

Interestingly, one of the guilty pleas was for “failing to adequately supervise an employee in the implementation of the locate process”.  This plea should be of interest to environmental and geotechnical consulting firms.  It could have implications for firms ensuring their employees are properly trained with respect to utility locates when they are managing site investigations with drillers.

Five years after the explosion, a memorial garden and plaque were unveiled at the residential/commercial building that was constructed to replace the destroyed plaza.

Over the last 10 years since the explosion that levelled the plaza and killed seven people, there has been increased awareness of utility locate issues, modification to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to improve wording in the construction regulation, and just last year an entirely new Act (Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act), and we still have people requesting us to drill when they do not have complete locates.

Over $1 million Fines

In a previous post, we indicated that a new trial had been ordered for Enbridge in the Bloor Street explosion.  For those who have forgotten, this was an explosion that leveled a building and killed 7 people because the utility locates were not completed properly.  We have posted below, information from that release as well as a link to the full press release.  As outlined, the fines related to this incident now total over $1 million.  We have heard rumors that a full inquiry may be the next step in this saga.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, ON, December 16, 2011) – Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. pled guilty to a charge under the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000 (the Act) for its role in a natural gas explosion on April 24, 2003 at 3887 Bloor St. West in Toronto that killed seven people, seriously injured four others, destroyed a two-story commercial and residential building, and caused extensive damage to adjacent properties.

The Ontario Provincial Offences Court imposed a fine of $350,000 plus a 25% victim surcharge of $87,500 for a total fine of $437,500 against Enbridge for failing to provide as accurate information as possible regarding the location of underground natural gas pipelines as required under the Act.

To read the full news release, please click here

Section 228 of Construction Regulation has been changed

In March 2010, the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association released a statement regarding changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act related to utility locates.  You can read the notice by clicking OSWCA_Locates_Bulletin.

Section 228 of the Construction Regulation within the Occupational Health and Safety Act has been amended as follows:

Old Wording

228. (1) Before an excavation is begun,

(a) gas, electrical and other services in and near the area to be excavated shall be accurately located and marked; and

(b) if a service may pose a hazard, the service shall be shut off and disconnected. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (1).

(2) The employer who is responsible for the excavation shall request the owner of the service to locate and mark the service. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (2).

(3) If a service may pose a hazard and cannot be shut off or disconnected, the owner of the service shall be requested to supervise the uncovering of the service during the excavation. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (3).

(4) Pipes, conduits and cables for gas, electrical and other services in an excavation shall be supported to prevent their failure or breakage. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (4).

New Wording

28.  (1)  Before an excavation is begun,

(a) the employer excavating shall ensure that all gas, electrical and other services in and near the area to be excavated are located and marked;

(b) the employer and worker locating and marking the services described in clause (a) shall ensure that they are accurately located and marked; and

(c) if a service may pose a hazard, the service shall be shut off and disconnected. O. Reg. 443/09, s. 6.
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(2)  If a service may pose a hazard and it cannot be shut off or disconnected, the owner of the service shall be requested to supervise the uncovering of the service during the excavation. O. Reg. 443/09, s. 6.

(3)  Pipes, conduits and cables for gas, electrical and other services in an excavation shall be supported to prevent their failure or breakage. O. Reg. 443/09, s. 6

Although the changes appear subtle, it is our understanding that the change was made such that the regulation now requires that locates be completed “accurately”.  Apparently this was a key problem identified during the investigation of the Bloor Street Explosion, as the contractor fulfilled their requirements by “requesting locates” and the utility fulfilled their obligation by “completing locates”.  The key problem was reportedly that the locates were not undertaken correctly or accurately.

We believe that this change in the regulation places more emphasis on the potential liability of environmental consultants and geotechnical engineers to ensure that they have completed the locates properly prior to requesting us to drill a borehole at their specified location.

New Trial Ordered

The legal saga surrounding the Bloor Street explosion continues, as a retrial was granted on April 14, 2010.  Anyone who has any involvement with borehole drilling and utility locates is encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Bloor Street explosion.  We have previously posted a number of articles related to the explosion in the “Resources” section of the website.

Based on media reports, it appears that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has overturned the directed verdict and is ordering a new trial for Enbridge and their locate subcontractor.  The company doing the excavation work without complete locates (Warren Bitulithic Limited) plead guilty in 2006 and was fined over $275,000.

In addition to the news items in our Resources section, some of the stories about the explosion and media reports on the appeal can be found below:

A good description of the incident and the recent appeal ruling, can be found in the April 21 summary provided by John Goudy:
http://landownerlaw.blogspot.com/2010/04/enbridge-bloor-street-gas-explosion.html

For some photos of the site
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/gary/blastweb/blast.html

Toronto Star story on re-trial being ordered (April 16, 2010)
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/796843–enbridge-subcontractor-face-re-trial-in-fatal-blast

Etobicoke Guardian stories on redevelopment, the appeal, and the names of the victims
http://www.mosun.com/news/MA-19032008.pdf

Story on the redevelopment of the site and the memorial garden honouring the 7 people who lost their lives because the locates weren’t complete.
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/centre/article/55689

Whenever someone wants us to drill without complete locates, we would like them to read the press stories related to the incident, and to think about the seven people killed in the explosion, knowing that the reason for the explosion was that the locates were not complete.