Worker critically injured while operating equipment
A Leamington mushroom grower has been fined $115,000 after a worker suffered critical injuries at its Kingsville facility.
Highline Produce Limited, located on Mersea Road in Leamington, pleaded guilty in Provincial Offences Court in Windsor to a violation of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the offence occurred on July 20, 2023, when “a worker was critically injured operating equipment for which no measures, procedures, guards or other devices where in place to prevent access to a hazard.”
The conviction was entered on Aug. 25, 2025. Justice of the Peace Helen-Nikoleta Karpouzos imposed the fine following the company’s guilty plea. Crown counsel was Christine Perruzza.
The court also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act. The ministry said, “The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.”
The incident took place at Highline’s Division Road North facility in Kingsville, where the company grows and harvests mushrooms. The ministry explained that “the mushrooms grow in a soil and compost mixture that lies on top of a net.” After harvesting, “the nets along with the mixture are removed and sanitized using a Net Washer Machine.”
The Net Washer “sanitizes the net by rolling it onto a bar while simultaneously spraying the net.” Workers were required to ensure that nets were aligned properly so they did not shift or become entangled. “Misalignment of the nets was a normal occurrence that required workers to adjust nets with their hands.”
The ministry said the injured worker was “attempting this realignment but became entangled in the net that was threaded on the rotating bar. This resulted in a critical injury.”
An investigation found “that there were no measures, procedures, guards or other devices in place to prevent workers from becoming entangled when adjusting nets on the machine.”
