Ontario Roofing Contractor Fined $100K After Worker Falls 22 Feet From Roof
According to the Daily Commercial News, a Cobourg, Ontario roofing contractor has been fined $100,000 following a 2023 incident in which a worker fell approximately 22 feet from a roof and sustained critical injuries.
What Happened
The incident occurred on August 1, 2023, at a project in Port Hope, Ontario, where a worker employed by Moffat Bros. Roofing Ltd. was completing a steel roof replacement. According to the Daily Commercial News, the worker was clipped to a safety line tether, but the rope was not long enough to reach the position needed to install the final roof panel. The worker unclipped from the safety line, then lost their balance while stepping over a steel panel being fastened to the roof and fell to the ground, sustaining critical injuries.
Fall protection equipment was available onsite at the time. The company was found to have failed to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 26.1(2) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were carried out, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Moffat Bros. Roofing entered a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court in Cobourg on June 3, 2026, and Justice of the Peace Joel Kulmatycki issued the $100,000 fine.
What It Means for Subcontractors
For roofing and elevated-work subcontractors operating in Canada, this case is a pointed reminder that liability from a single incident can follow a company for years and land hard when it does.
- Equipment availability is not enough. Regulators will look at whether fall protection was actually in use at the moment of the incident. Having gear onsite does not shield a company from liability if workers are not using it.
- Line length and reach matter. In this case, a tether that was too short to cover the full work area led directly to the worker unclipping. Pre-task planning should verify that safety lines reach every position a worker will occupy.
- Guilty pleas carry fines, not just warnings. A $100,000 penalty for one incident reflects how seriously Ontario’s OHS enforcement treats fall protection failures. Companies should budget for compliance, not enforcement.
- The clock runs long. This incident happened in August 2023 and was resolved in court nearly three years later, in June 2026. Subcontractors should treat OHS incidents as open liability files until formal resolution.
