Thirteen charges laid by the provincial Ministry of Labour against the owners of Somerset House on Bank Street, have been adjourned for a hearing on March 2.
Owners of the partially collapsed Somerset House located in Centretown, were scheduled in court this afternoon in response to 13 charges laid by the Ministry of Labour.
The charges related to the partial collapse of the historic Bank Street building in 2007. Owner Tony Shahrasebi and TKS Holdings Inc., were to appear in provincial offences court Thursday but the hearing was adjourned at the request of their lawyer.
The building, which housed the Duke of Somerset pub, partially collapsed on Oct. 19, 2007. It left one worker trapped inside a Bobcat and subsequently the intersection of Bank and Somerset was closed for eight weeks due to safety concerns.
Under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, TKS Holdings Inc. is being charged as an employer for failing to ensure the roof and supports in a workplace were strong enough to support applied loads; provide safety instruction to protect the health and safety of a worker; or prepare a health and safety policy and develop and maintain a program to implement it.
After initial threats of demolition, Shahrasebi stabilized the foundation in order to preserve the 1902 structure. Currently, the building is under construction to rebuild the north wall.