View cases - Stewart McKelvey

8Department of Labour. The firm advised that it would not continue with electrical repairsto 2 nd floor units and expressed concern that tenants, maintenance personnel andcontractors had not been notified of the situation.[17] Mr. Della Valle gave a statement to Department of Labour investigators, andtestified at his trial. He began to work with CBIHA as a student in 1989 in amaintenance position, and was hired as its OHS Coordinator in September of 2004. Itappears he shared the job for a few months, but took over sole responsibility in July of2005. While he was not paid at the level of top managers, the organizational chart putshim at the top level, reporting directly to the Director, Ms. McKeough. He was not, until2009, invited to attend management meetings. His is the only position to which no otherreports. On the maintenance side, by contrast, there are many levels of reporting, withproperty managers, maintenance supervisors and maintenance workers in adescending line of authority.[18] Mr. Della Valle thus occupied a unique position within the organization. His role,set out in his job description and considered in the context of the legislation, was topromote a safe and healthy workplace. While there were specific projects heundertook, and particular duties spelled out, he also bore a general responsibility forhealth and safety within the organization. It is true that he was not engaged “hands-on”with repairs and maintenance. He might only rarely attend at one of the housing units.But while this distances him from the responsibility to supervise particular jobs atspecific sites and times, it does not diminish his responsibility for health and safetymatters in the broader sense. This issue was indeed a broadly-based health and safetyissue which required a systemic response.[19] Although the defendant “reported” the Muggah letter to two of the maintenancesupervisors, MacNeil and Routledge, it is clear that he was not directly accountable tothem within the organization. With the person he did “report to”, he was conspicuouslysilent.[20] Mr. Della Valle would also have known that MacNeil and Routledge exercisedauthority over the maintenance employees, but he would know too that the concerns oftenants were not their primary responsibility and that they did not exercise exclusivesupervision over contracted employees.[21] Mr. Della Valle said that fire drills and a “return to work” program occupied mostof his time. He was updating the safety manual, which included procedures on jobhazard assessments. He attended most JOHS committee meetings, held monthly, and