lenaitch
Army.ca Veteran
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Negligence is a civil finding unless it is Criminal Negligence (or one of the related sections). To be found guilty, the company must have violated an offence created in a piece of legislation (not all laws create offences). The Ontario OH&S Act creates offences, as I suspect those of most provinces do.Death/ injury of a worker, environmental issues.
Industry follow OH&S laws, codes etc.
Industry recommended practices have been used to find negligence in operations, building etc. Most are civil proceedings. But they have included recommended practices as standard procedures.
IRP have been used to prove companies have not follow established procedures in conducting business including building codes.
Two cases I was involved with providing information.
One included injury to a worker, a company did not follow the IRP for procedural precedence. They stated they followed OH&S rules/ requirements. Which were very vague of the requirements due to covering a general practice. At the time the approved IRP for the job task had just started to come out in detail but the procedures had been accepted as the normal way to operate by the majority of companies. The employer was found negligent for the workers injuries due to not following IRP. This set in motion a change in practice to ensure company and operators understood their legal liabilities in regards to operating equipment.
The other case where a manufacturer who did not build/ test the equipment to Industry specifications was found guilty in court and had to pay costs of the fixes/upgrades that were originally expected. This almost bankrupted the company. I was banned from their premises for two years until they realized I had given them all the requirements they needed to build the proper equipment and safeties, but they failed to take the advice given for IRP.
By your very brief description, I would suggest the company was found negligent, not guilty, unless there is some specific law that said the manufacturer had to do something and they didn't.
There has been some references to product or manufacturing standards. I was unaware that a building code addresses this; I thought that was the purview of certification bodies such as CSA, ETL, UL, etc. The Ontario Building Code says how I have to build my deck, but it doesn't grade the lumber that it says I have to use.