Fidelity PAC Metals fined $60,000 for workplace injury

Ontario employer Fidelity PAC Metals Ltd. has been fined $60,000 after one of its workers was injured in the workplace.

Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Halton, the employer was also required to pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as mandated by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The incident occurred on Dec. 10, 2022, when an administrative worker was assisting with inventory in the warehouse’s bar storage area.

While the worker was checking product tags on a lower rack, a forklift operator was removing a bundle of rods from an adjacent upper rack.

This movement caused another bundle of bars to fall, injuring the worker who was taking inventory.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the spacing between racks was inadequate, material was not properly centred, and exclusion zones for pedestrian safety were not clearly identified.

“By not ensuring the rods were stored correctly, Fidelity PAC Metals Ltd. failed to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by subsection 45(b) of Ontario Regulation 851/90 were carried out at the workplace, contrary to sections 25(1)(c) and 66(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). said the Ontario government.

According to section 45(b) of the regulation, material, articles or things shall be transported, placed or stored so that the material, articles or things:

(i) will not tip, collapse or fall, and
(ii) can be removed or withdrawn without endangering the safety of any worker.

Meanwhile, section 25(1)(c) of the OHSA states: “An employer shall ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace.”

Section 66(1) of the Act states that, subject to subsections (2) and (2.1), every person who contravenes or fails to comply with:
(a) a provision of this Act or the regulations;
(b) an order or requirement of an inspector or a Director; or
(c) an order of the Minister,
is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than twelve months, or to both.

Following the incident, the company implemented corrective measures, including realigning and spacing racks properly, marking exclusion zones, and replacing damaged equipment, said the provincial government.