Fines can be huge when a company is convicted for an offense under the Occupational Health & Safety Act & Regulations. Here are a few of the latest court bulletins as posted on the Ministry of Labour’s web site:
Excerpt from the Ontario government’s ‘Newsroom’
Court Bulletin
Elevator Company Fined $80,000 After Worker Falls
CALEDON, ON – An elevator company pleaded guilty and was fined $80,000 after a worker suffered injuries and was airlifted to hospital for treatment. The incident took place at United Hoist Equipment Ltd.’s office and storage facility located at 106 Commercial Road in Bolton. The company is in the business of providing personal and material elevators for the construction industry.
Injury at Vegetable Processing Facility Results in $80,000 Fine
WINDSOR, ON – Bonduelle Canada Inc., which owns and operates a vegetable processing facility in southwestern Ontario, pleaded guilty and was fined $80,000 after a worker was critically injured while cleaning a conveyor belt.
Roofing Company Proprietor Receives Fine, Jail Term After Worker Falls
GODERICH, ON – The proprietor of a London-area roofing company has been sentenced to three days in jail and a fine of $5,000 after attempting to deceive a Ministry of Labour safety inspector following a worker’s fall from a roof.
The defendant, A. Bradley Clothier, operates a roofing business as a sole proprietor called AB Clothier Roofing based in Dorchester, Ontario.
On August 17, 2015, three workers for AB Clothier Roofing, including Clothier, were working on a residential roofing project at a two-storey home in the town of Bayfield. Fall protection, such as harnesses required by law when working at heights, was not made available for the workers on the project. One of the workers fell at distance of 18 feet from the roof, which resulted in injuries.
After the worker fell, Clothier directed the third worker at the site to go up onto the roof and put up lifelines and fall protection equipment in an attempt to deceive the Ministry of Labour investigation that would take place.
Clothier pleaded guilty to two counts: Failure to ensure a worker was adequately protected by a method of fall protection contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and attempting to hinder, obstruct, molest or interfere with an inspector in the exercise of his or her power, or performance of a duty, under section 54 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Clothier was fined $5,000 on the first count, and imprisonment for a term of three days on the second count. The jail sentence and fine were imposed by Justice of the Peace D. Patricia Hodgins in Goderich court on November 3, 2016.
In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Barrie Fabric Manufacturer Fined $40,000 After Worker Caught in Machine
Ministry of Labour
BARRIE, ONTARIO – Albarrie Canada Ltd., a company that manufactures industrial-use fabrics, pleaded guilty and was fined $40,000 after a worker was caught in a carding machine and suffered injuries.
On June 24, 2014, a worker who had been with the company for less than three months was assigned to work on a carding machine at the company’s facility at 85 Morrow Road in Barrie. The worker noticed that fibre was accumulating on the materials being processed on the machine – a problem usually a result of a vacuum head being clogged with fibre. To clear the vacuum head, the worker reached in under the table at the face of the carding machine. The worker was pulled into the machine, suffering injury and requiring municipal fire services personnel to extract the worker, as well as surgery for the injury.
The Ministry of Labour investigation found that there was no guard or other device that prevented access to the carding machine’s pinch point. This was against the requirements of Ontario Regulation 851 – the Industrial Establishments Regulation – that require a guard or other device to prevent access to a pinch point and nip hazards that may endanger the safety of any worker.
Albarrie Canada Ltd. pleaded guilty on August 23 was fined $40,000 in Barrie court by Justice of the Peace Ann C. Forfar on October 4, 2016.
New workers of any age who are on the job for less than six months, or who are assigned to a new job, are significantly more likely to be injured on the job than more experienced workers.
Vale Canada Limited Fined $1 Million in Death of One Worker, Critical Injury to Another
SUDBURY, ON – Vale Canada Limited pleaded guilty and has been fined $1,000,000 after one worker died and another was critically injured while attempting to clear a jam in a rock-crushing machine at a plant near Sudbury.
The incident took place at the company’s rock-crushing facility located at 18 Rink Street in Copper Cliff, Ontario on April 6, 2014. A rock crusher, used in the first stages of the refining process, became jammed with a broken-off steel moil point (a pointed tool) inside the crusher. There were no established procedures for removing broken or jammed materials from crushers.
After one failed attempt to remove the moil point, two workers positioned themselves above the jaws of the crusher to use a cutting torch to free the moil point, which weighed about 53.5 kilograms. As the cutting torch was applied, the heat softened the steel of the moil point, reducing friction and causing the moil point to be released from the compressive power of the crusher jaws created by stored energy. The moil point propelled vertically toward the two workers, striking each of them. One suffered fatal trauma and the other suffered critical injuries.
The subsequent Ministry of Labour investigation found the electrical motor of the crusher had not been locked out, and no measures were taken to release the stored energy of the crusher.
Vale Canada Limited pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that gravity-stored energy was dissipated or contained while work was being done on the crusher, and to failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker on a safe procedure to remove the broken moil point from the crusher. The company also pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that pinch points were guarded on the conveyor and crusher; these offences were not related to the fatality or injury.
The company was fined a total of $1,000,000 in provincial court by Justice Patrick Boucher on October 24, 2016 in Sudbury court.
A supervisor who was acting as a worker that day, Greg Taylor, pleaded guilty to failing to work in compliance with Ontario’s mining regulation, and was fined $3,000 for his involvement in the failed attempt to remove the moil point.
In addition to the fines, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
This is the second-highest fine imposed by a court in Ontario for contraventions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. In 2013 Vale Canada Limited was convicted and fined $1,050,000 in the 2011 deaths of two workers at its Stobie Mine near Sudbury.
Bailey Metal Processing Limited Fined $50,000 After Worker Injured
BURLINGTON, ONTARIO – Bailey Metal Processing Limited was fined $50,000 this week after a worker was injured by machinery.
On April 8, 2015, a worker was testing equipment at the Bailey Metal Processing establishment at 1211 Heritage Rd. in Burlington. The equipment malfunctioned. The worker attempted to fix the malfunction and accidentally activated the equipment, which resulted in the worker’s arm being pinned and injured.
The Ministry of Labour investigated and found that the equipment had not been checked to find out if it was operational, and the electrical source was not locked out as prescribed by section 76 of Regulation 851, R.R.O. 1990, Industrial Regulations, which requires that machine controls be locked out and precautions taken to prevent the starting of a machine that may endanger a worker.
Bailey Metal Processing Limited pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000 by Justice of the Peace Denis Lee. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Worker Critically Injured by Robotic Device, Company Fined $270,000
BRAMPTON, ON – Matcor Automotive Inc., a manufacturer of metal parts for the automotive industry, was convicted after a trial and given a fine of $270,000 after a worker suffered a devastating injury involving a robotic device.
On January 15, 2013 at the workplace situated at 1620 Steeles Avenue East, Brampton, a supervisor was made aware of a problem with a robot cell. The supervisor instructed a maintenance worker to fix the tooling and overheating electrode in the cell. Believing the matter could be quickly fixed, the worker entered the robot cell through the light curtain and without locking out power to the robot.
In order to reach the part of the tooling to be fixed, the worker was positioned on a railing by the conveyor belt to the left of the tooling. The worker felt pressure and saw it was the robot pressing the back of the worker’s body.
Two workers took the injured worker off the conveyor belt and onto the floor. The worker suffered serious and permanent injury.
After six days at trial, the company was found guilty and was convicted on three counts on February 10, 2016.
The court found that maintenance workers were expected to make a judgment call about how to fix the equipment: if it was a ‘quick fix,’ the practice was to not lock out/tag out, and if it was a longer fix (an hour), then lockout/tag out would occur.
The court also found that there was little effective supervision of workers.
Justice of the Peace Darlene Florence imposed the fine in Brampton court on August 17, 2016.
The company was convicted of failing as an employer to provide information, instruction and supervision to protect the health and safety of the worker with respect to working near robotic equipment and failing to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by Section 75(a) and Section 76 of the Industrial Establishments Regulation (O. Reg. 851) were carried out in the workplace.
In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.