Employers who do not comply with Ministry of Labour orders face the wrath of MOL inspectors, and of the courts. In May 2009, Ontario health and safety inspectors visited Infinity Marble of Canada, a synthetic marble and granite manufacturing company led by sole proprietor Waldemar Kozuchowski. The inspectors issued several orders in respect of health and safety violations. The inspectors made a number of follow-up visits to the premises between May 2009 and May 2010 but the violations remained, resulting in further orders. In total, inspectors wrote 23 orders, 15 of which were not complied with by Mr. Kozuchowski. The orders that were not complied with included a stop work order relating to the use of a spray booth, as well as orders related to the improper storage of flammable liquids, poor ventilation, a lack of a system to contain spills and a failure to ensure that workers wore respirators.
On October 28, 2011 Mr. Kozuchowski was found guilty of 15 counts of failing to comply with an order issued by an inspector. He was fined $3,000 for his failure to comply with the stop work order and $1,000 per count with respect to his failure to comply with each of the 14 other orders, resulting in a total fine of $17,000, plus the 25% victim fine surcharge. For more information, see the Ministry of Labour’s News Release: http://news.ontario.ca/mol/en/2011/11/business-owner-fined-17000-for-non-compliance.html
