MILTON, ONTARIO – ClubLink Corporation ULC, a corporation that owns and operates golf courses, pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000 after a young worker was injured by a wood chipper. On May 27, 2015, two ClubLink workers were operating a wood chipper at RattleSnake Point Golf Club Limited located at 5407 Regional Road 25 in Milton. The first worker started the chipper and began feeding wood while the second looked for a place to put down a coffee cup. Placing the cup near a vent on the...
TIMMINS, ON – Following a trial, Orbit Garant Drilling Services Inc., a diamond drilling company operating in northeastern Ontario, was found guilty and fined $200,000 after a worker was killed by a falling tree while exiting a bulldozer. The company was operating multiple diamond surface drills in the area of the St. Andrews Holloway-Holt mine sites east of Timmins when, on June 25, 2014, two workers were coming off shift. They were travelling to the parking lot of the Holloway-Holt #3...
BRAMPTON, ON – The recycling company that operates glass recycling facilities for Ontario’s municipal blue-box collection, deposit return program and the Beer Store pleaded guilty and has been fined $65,000 after a worker suffered a permanent injury caused by running machinery. NexCycle Industries Ltd. is a corporation with a workplace located at 325 Orenda Road in Brampton. At this industrial establishment, workers recycle beer bottles and beer cans. The company also uses beer...
SUDBURY, ON – Metro Ontario Inc. pleaded guilty and was fined $80,000 after a worker in the grocery chain’s Sudbury store was injured while grinding meat. The incident took place in the Metro store at 900 Lasalle Boulevard in Sudbury on November 24, 2015. The worker was making sausage by putting pork in the hopper of a meat grinder. The worker closed the lid and pressed the ‘mix/grind’ button on the machine. While looking through a window in the hopper, the worker noted...
NEWMARKET, ON – Vaughan Paving Ltd. pleaded guilty and was fined $125,000 after a worker was struck by equipment and later died from the injuries. Vaughan Paving Ltd., a Concord-based company that provides residential and commercial paving, concrete, grading and other services, was subcontracted to install concrete curbs and sidewalks at a commercial strip mall on Bullock Drive in Markham. On August 27, 2014, a crew of company workers was grading and levelling the parking lot of...
WOODSTOCK, ON – Siemens Wind Power Ltd. has pleaded guilty and has been fined $60,000 after a worker fell from a weigh scale and then was struck by a moving loader. The company, formerly operating as Siemens Canada Limited, has a head office at1577 North Service Road East in Oakville and is a manufacturer of wind turbine blades at a plant at 1 Clearview Drive in Tillsonburg. On July 13, 2015, a worker at the plant was injured after falling from a wind turbine blade which was situated on a...
Over that past year, I’ve seen my share of construction-site injuries and I am almost certain that a good portion of them are because workers adopt wrong or unsafe behavior. Such behaviour often means taking shortcuts but I believe it’s mostly about workers taking the inherent dangers of the job for granted. Risk is part of a construction worker’s life but by far the biggest challenge is getting workers to put their safety first, and to place the same care and attention on...
BRAMPTON, ON – M & P Tool Products Inc. pleaded guilty in court and received a fine of $80,000 after a worker suffered permanent injuries while operating a machine. M & P Tool Products produces metal parts which are used in the construction of racking structures and the workplace at 43 Regan Road in Brampton contains several industrial presses that are used by workers to create various metal parts. The incident took place on February 23, 2016 and involved a temporary employment...
BRAMPTON, ON – A bottle-manufacturing company has pleaded guilty and has been fined $100,000 after a worker suffered a permanent injury in Brampton. The company, O-I Canada Corporation, has a principal place of business in Ontario at 777 Kipling Avenue in Toronto and operates a glass manufacturing facility located at 100 West Drive, Brampton. On February 27, 2016, a worker was working at the industrial site in the bottle forming department with a second worker, a machine operator. They...
KITCHENER, ON – Dare Foods Limited pleaded guilty and has been fined $67,500 after a new worker was injured while cleaning an overhead conveyor. The incident took place on March 1, 2016 at Dare’s Kitchener plant, located at 2481 Kingsway Drive, which produces a variety of snack foods such as cookies and crackers. A worker who began employment at the plant on January 26 was assigned to clean an overhead cross conveyor and a transfer conveyor. The task was to clean and remove the...