Ontario's Final Construction Death Review Names Five Hazards Behind 42 of 44 Fatalities

Ontario's Final Construction Death Review Names Five Hazards Behind 42 of 44 Fatalities

Ontario’s coroner’s office has closed the book on its latest Construction Death Review, and the numbers behind it are stark: 42 of 44 examined fatalities trace back to just five recurring hazards, Daily Commercial News reports in the final installment of its three-part series on the report.

Background

The Construction Death Review examined 43 construction-related deaths that occurred in Ontario between 2015 and 2023, plus one death from 1994, according to Daily Commercial News. The review, which took roughly nine months to complete, identified heavy material or equipment hazards, crushing, wall/ceiling/trench collapse, electrical exposure and elemental exposure as the causes behind the vast majority of the deaths. Two other workers died years after an incident from injury-related complications.

The advisory committee that examined the fatalities included industry stakeholders such as Carmine Tiano, director of occupational services with the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, and Sean McFarling, general counsel for LIUNA’s Ontario Provincial District Council. Their work produced 14 recommendations directed at the Ministry of Labour, the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association, the Ontario Formwork Association, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and LIUNA.

One concrete recommendation calls for a review of the compatibility of commonly used formwork systems in Ontario, to be completed within 12 months of the report’s release, per Daily Commercial News. Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner, confirmed the CDR process is already gathering information for its next cycle, which will examine 36 additional deaths.

Analysis

The most useful thing in this report for subcontractors isn’t the recommendation list. It’s the concentration of causes. When 42 of 44 deaths funnel into five hazard categories, that tells crews and safety managers exactly where to spend limited training and inspection dollars rather than spreading effort thin across every conceivable jobsite risk.

Formwork compatibility stands out as the one recommendation with an actual deadline attached, a 12-month window for the Ministry of Labour, IHSA, the Ontario Formwork Association, the Carpenters and LIUNA to jointly review systems in common use. For crews doing concrete formwork, tilt-up, or any structural work involving mixed manufacturer components, that review is worth tracking closely since its findings could reshape acceptable system combinations and inspection checklists within the year.

The report’s softer findings, complacency and workplace culture, are harder to regulate but arguably more dangerous. Andrew Pariser of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario put it plainly: workers let their guard down precisely when they feel safest, and that drift is nearly invisible until something goes wrong. Tiano’s comments about workers fearing “blacklisting” if they push back on unsafe direction from supervisors point to a structural problem no toolbox talk fixes on its own. His suggested alternative, a probationary-style enforcement approach where courts follow up on repeat-offender companies rather than issuing one-time fines, signals where enforcement policy could be headed if the industry lobbies for it, as Tiano urged.

For US-based operators watching from across the border, Ontario’s five-hazard breakdown lines up closely with what OSHA’s “Fatal Four” already identifies nationally, falls, struck-by, caught-in/between, and electrocution. The overlap reinforces that these aren’t jurisdiction-specific problems. Contractors bidding cross-border work or managing binational safety programs should treat the CDR’s findings as a data point supporting existing OSHA-focused hazard controls, not a separate Canadian issue to file away.

What It Means for Subcontractors

• Crews doing formwork, particularly concrete and structural carpentry trades, should watch for the Ministry of Labour-led compatibility review due within 12 months of the report’s release. Outcomes could change accepted system combinations and inspection standards for formwork on Ontario sites.
• Electrical subcontractors and anyone handling solar installation or repair should note that electrical exposure was named as one of the five dominant hazard categories behind 42 of 44 deaths reviewed, reinforcing the need for lockout/tagout and de-energization verification on every panel or system repair, damaged or otherwise.
• Excavation, trenching and civil crews should treat wall, ceiling and trench collapse as a top-five confirmed killer in this dataset and revisit shoring and protective system compliance now rather than waiting for the next CDR cycle’s findings on 36 additional deaths.
• Firms with unionized crews should raise Tiano’s blacklisting concern internally: if workers don’t feel safe refusing an unsafe instruction from a supervisor, no safety program on paper will prevent the next incident. Building a documented, retaliation-free reporting channel now costs less than defending a fatality investigation later.
• General contractors and safety managers selecting subcontractors should ask formwork suppliers and installers whether they are tracking the joint IHSA/Ontario Formwork Association/LIUNA/Carpenters review, since compliance expectations tied to that review are expected within the next year.