Interpaving barely passed mid-term report before 2015 pedestrian death, city says

Interpaving, a company contracted by the City of Greater Sudbury, barely received a passing grade on a mid-project report card issued by the city before a pedestrian was killed on site.

The City of Greater Sudbury is facing six charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with the death of Cecile Paquette, 58.

She was killed on Elgin Street when she was run over by a grader in a construction site in September 2015.

Last week, Interpaving was found guilty on one charge and was issued a $195,000 fine.

On Tuesday, Interpaving senior executive Ken Edwards testified.

He said during the construction, the city graded the company on its traffic protection plan, adequate safety procedures, safety equipment and administration.

The grade was 54 per cent, which Edwards testified was "not acceptable on our part."

He also said no changes could be made on the site, without discussion and approval from the city first.

City, Interpaving involved in other court battle

The court proceedings were halted unexpectedly early Tuesday afternoon after Crown prosecutor David McCaskill brought another court case to the judge's attention.

Five months after the fatal incident, the city decided to bar Interpaving from bidding on any future contracts with the municipality.

Interpaving is still trying to dispute that decision. The two sides are still dealing with that civil matter before divisional court.

McCaskill told court he was contacted by Interpaving's lawyer in the civil case, since he represents the Crown in this current case.

"All I did was simply raise it before the court, put a red flag, so that's all I've done. I've simply raised it with the court and say 'Hey look there is an issue here, you may want to think about this,'" McCaskill told reporters once court had adjourned for the day.

McCaskill does not plan to argue whether the details should or shouldn't be included, and added his case for the Ministry of Labour won't be affected by the judge's decision, regardless of what that is.

"I've got no horse in this race," he said.

"This is not my argument and I want to make that really, perfectly clear. I'm just raising this because the issue has been raised with me as the Crown on the case so that the court has it in its hands to deal with"

McCaskill still has three city inspectors he plans to call as witnesses before the defence will begin its case later this week.