Impact Demolition Services, an asbestos abatement provider on campus, has been charged by the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) with workplace safety and fair-wage violations. Impact Services officer Jan Osinski was also charged.
Impact faces 12 counts of violating the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. Charges include falsely reporting a workplace accident, submitting misleading claims for insurance plan benefits, and numerous counts of inaccurate statements of payroll. The WSIB oversees and monitors Ontario workplace safety.
Michael Swart, a WSIB external relations officer, declined to elaborate further on the charges. “We can’t comment on anything [about the case] at this stage. A judge will hear the charges.”
Impact VP Alan Giller was equally tight-lipped. “I have no comment on it. We’ll take it up to the courts. “
Impact is a large concrete-cutting and abatement service provider and has done projects across Southern Ontario at all levels of government. Impact has also worked for several years on the U of T campus, most recently providing asbestos abatement at the Med-Sci building.
The company says its safety practices were reviewed by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. But the WSIB charges raise new questions over the fitness of Impact workers to perform asbestos removal on campus. University administrators could not be reached for comment.
The sub-contractor has been dogged for several months by local unions who accuse Impact of the very transgressions outlined in the recent WSIB charges. Impact has staunchly denied the unions’ accusations, characterizing them as retaliation for past failed attempts at unionizing Impact.
Impact is scheduled to appear in provincial court on Jan. 29.
