Highrise deaths need criminal probe: OFL head

A criminal investigation should be launched to look at whether negligence was a factor in a fatal Christmas Eve construction accident in Toronto, a top Ontario labour official says.

Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said Tuesday that a criminal probe could determine if four workers who plunged to their deaths had been provided with proper safety equipment and supervision.

If not, the company employing them could face charges under the Criminal Code, Ryan suggested.

The four men died at an apartment building in northwest Toronto when the work platform they were using to repair balconies split in two. The platform, known as a swing stage, was 13 storeys up when it snapped.

A fifth man who fell from the swing stage was in intensive care Tuesday at Sunnybrook Hospital. He suffered two fractured legs and a broken spine.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour and Toronto police have been investigating the disaster, but have not released the men’s names, saying only that they had "European backgrounds."

The Toronto Sun newspaper reported Tuesday that two of the victims were refugee claimants, one a 40-year-old father of two from Israel, the other a 32-year-old from Ukraine. The Toronto Star reported that the man who survived the collapse, a 21-year-old from Uzbekistan, has regained consciousness but is being heavily sedated.