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Brampton, ON – Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., a Toronto natural gas distributor, was fined $50,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a fire at a worksite.

On September 30, 2009, workers were installing a new section of natural gas pipe inside the company’s Lisgar Gate Pressure Regulating Station in Mississauga. The workers noticed natural gas leaking from a previously installed section of pipe and the site was evacuated. Shortly afterwards, the natural gas ignited, resulting in a fire. Nobody was injured.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the previously installed section of pipe had been left pressurized with natural gas while workers were installing the new section of pipe.

Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that a high pressure gas line was de-energized while it was being modified and while construction work was being done adjacent to it.

In July 2011, the contractor on the project, Robert B. Somerville Co. Limited, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $50,000.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Michael Barnes. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.