Enbridge Gas fined in fatal blast

InsideToronto.com

Toronto, Canada.

Three firms fined total of $1.4M

Enbridge Gas and one of its subcontractors have been fined more than $1.1 million for safety violations related to a devastating 2003 explosion in Etobicoke that killed seven people.

The April 24, 2003 blast destroyed a two-storey Six Points strip plaza on Bloor Street West near Kipling Avenue after a backhoe struck a gas line.

Enbridge pleaded guilty to failing to provide as accurate information as possible regarding the location of underground natural gas pipelines in the area. On Friday, Enbridge was fined $350,000 for a charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and another $350,000 for a charge under the Technical Standards and Safety Act. Enbridge's locating company, Precision Utility Ltd. was fined $200,000.

The firms were also levied a 25 per cent victim surcharge that goes to a provincial fund to help victims of crime.

It is one of the largest fines imposed by the courts in Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) history, said Tom Ayers, TSSA vice-president and general counsel.

"This fine sends a clear message that violations of Ontario's safety regulations will not be tolerated and that TSSA will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the safety of Ontarians," Ayers said in a statement.

Gas industry developed excess flow valves are now a Canadian Standards Association standard and a TSSA requirement on all new and renewed installations, a TSSA spokesperson confirmed.

In 2006, excavation firm Warren Bitulithic Ltd. pleaded guilty to damaging an underground pipeline and was fined $225,000 plus a 25 per cent victim surcharge.

The explosion levelled three businesses in the strip mall - Grecian Hair Salon, The Elegant Cleaners and Milano's Pizza - pounding them into the basement, and destroyed five apartments in the building. It also severely damaged a neighbouring home.

At the time, the city had been doing road resurfacing and sidewalk reconstruction in the area. A contractor's backhoe dislodged the pipeline running into the plaza and sent natural gas into its basement.

Six to nine minutes later, an unknown ignition source caused the gas to explode.

The blast levelled the plaza.

Dora Carambelas, 60, Tina Kirkimtzis (nee Carambelas), 32, longtime resident Robert Fairley, 50, esthetician Irene Miyama, 52, as well as hair salon clients Adele Brown, 73, Elizabeth Roy, 74, and Lillian Guglietti, also known as Lillian Goulet, 73, were killed. Four people were seriously injured.

It was the largest loss of life ever from a pipeline explosion in Canada.