Worker sustains a critical injury while operating a lift truck during a training session
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has been fined $80,000 after a worker suffered a critical injury in the workplace, according to the Ontario government.
Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in London, the employer was also tasked to pay 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.
The incident happened on June 20, 2022, when a group of LCBO workers were being trained to use a powered pallet lift truck, also known as a transporter, at a LCBO warehouse in London.
A seasonal warehouse worker, who had experience operating the equipment but no certification to train others, was conducting the training exercise.
“The trainer, believing the workers had already received the theoretical part of the training, gave an incomplete overview of how to complete a visual and operational inspection based on the employer’s checklist and manufacturer’s manual,” said the Ontario government.
During the session, a worker operating the transporter for the first time lost control while practising turns in an aisle and collided with a steel storage rack, resulting in a critical injury.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s investigation found that the trainer “lacked the necessary qualifications and had not received recent instruction on the equipment or the LCBO’s training protocols.”
“The employer failed to provide the worker with proper information, instruction and supervision to protect the worker’s health and safety, contrary to section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
According to section 25(2)(a) of the act, an employer shall provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the worker.
