Worker fell to the ground after ladder swings towards them
Ontario employer Brunner Manufacturing & Sales Ltd. has been fined $220,000 after a worker died on the job.
Following a guilty plea in the Welland Provincial Offences Court, the employer was also ordered to pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial fund to assist victims of crime.
The incident occurred on June 24, 2023, when two workers at Tecna Forge—a division of Brunner Manufacturing & Sales Ltd.—were removing a shim, a type of metal spacer, from a press. It was the first time the workers had performed this specific task.
One worker was in an elevated manbasket attached to a lift truck, while the other was seated in the cab operating the controls.
The workers had removed the machine’s diaphragm piston assembly, which weighed approximately 2,750 pounds, and it was suspended in the air by an overhead crane.
One worker exited the lift truck and climbed a ladder to help reposition the assembly when it swung toward them. Both the assembly and the worker fell to the ground.
An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that the press’s manual outlined a procedure to safely remove the diaphragm piston assembly using guide studs.
However, the workers used modified steel bolts instead and placed them closer together than recommended, compromising the stability of the suspended load. They also left the assembly suspended, contrary to the manual’s instructions.
“Brunner Manufacturing & Sales Ltd. failed to ensure that workers understood the hazards of failing to follow the instructions in the press’s operating manual, contrary to section 25(2)(d) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
Section 25(2)(d) of the act states that an employer shall “acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker with any hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of any article, device, equipment or a biological, chemical or physical agent”.
