A Toronto project manager has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in a deadly scaffolding collapse that claimed the lives of four members of his construction crew.

Vadim Kazenelson was found guilty in June, 2015 of four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

On Monday, Kazenelson was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for each offence, to be served concurrently.

Judge Ian MacDonnell said Kazenelson was aware that proper protections were not in place.

"A significant term of imprisonment is necessary to reflect the terrible consequences of the offences," MacDonnell said in court.

Kazenelson was sentenced more than five years after four men died and another was seriously injured while repairing balconies at a Toronto highrise.

Six workers were on a swing stage they'd been using to scale the outside of the building on Dec. 24, 2009, but the stage only had two safety lines.

The stage split in two, sending five workers hurtling to the ground 13 storeys below.

Alesandrs Bondarevs, Aleksey Blumberg, Vladamir Korostin and foreman Fayzullo Fazilov fell to their deaths, while Dilshod Marupov survived the fall with fractures to his spine and ribs. The men were from Latvia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

"Families have been destroyed here," Ontario Federation of Labour President Chris Buckley said outside the courthouse Monday.

"The judge sent a strong message and every employer across this province should be extremely concerned."

Despite the sentence, Kazenelson is expected to go home rather than to prison, CTV Toronto's Janice Golding reported from the courthouse. The Crown attorney did not oppose letting Kazenelson out on bail pending an appeal. His bail hearing will take place in the same courthouse Monday afternoon.

Metron Construction Corp. pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in 2012, and was fined $750,000 and a victim surcharge. Another director of the project, Joel Swartz, was also fined $90,000 plus a victim surcharge.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Janice Golding