Apprentice was working on an overburden hopper whose gate controlled the flow of quarry material
St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada) has been fined $475,000 after an apprentice millwright was killed during a maintenance shutdown at its Bowmanville, Ont., plant.
The company pleaded guilty in Oshawa and was convicted Sept. 14 of failing, as constructor, to ensure blocking was installed to prevent equipment movement during repairs, according to a Sept. 28 bulletin from Ontario's Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD).
Justice Liana Marcon imposed the fine. Shantanu Shankar Roy and Alexsis Qi prosecuted.
The court added a 25% victim fine surcharge.
The ministry said it is "credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime."
The total penalty is $593,750.
Worker fatally injured during annual shutdown
During the plant's annual shutdown, the ministry said, the site "becomes a construction project under the Occupational Health and Safety Act." Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. was the 2023 subcontractor.
On March 21, 2023, a Trade-Mark apprentice was working on an overburden hopper whose gate controlled the flow of quarry material.
While the worker was inside, a planned power shutdown elsewhere on the project caused the gate to close, fatally injuring the worker.
Investigation finds no blocking in place
Investigators found no blocking was installed to stop the gate moving.
Ontario Regulation 213/91, section 108, requires blocking "to prevent the collapse or movement of equipment being dismantled, altered or repaired" if that movement may endanger a worker.
The company thereby breached section 23(1)(a) of the act. The same rule figured in a $110,000 fine after unblocked equipment killed a Brampton worker.
Company, ministry and family spoke after death
Local media identified the worker as Mitch Watson, 20, of Uxbridge.
On March 21, 2023, a company spokesperson told the Daily Commercial News "a third-party contractor was involved in an accident and succumbed to fatal injuries." The ministry issued five requirements after the St. Marys Cement worker death: four to St. Marys and one to Trade-Mark.
Family friend Chris Hogg wrote on a fundraising page that Watson "was the light in so many lives,” according to an INsauga article. No comment on the conviction had been reported as of Sept. 30.
Offence predates higher maximum fine
The maximum corporate fine at the time was $1.5 million per charge, according to data from McCarthy Tétrault.
Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act, 2023, completed Ontario's plan to impose Canada's toughest OHS penalties, raising the ceiling to $2 million for offences on or after Oct. 26, 2023, noted Mathews Dinsdale & Clark LLP.
The directors' and officers' maximum rose to $1.5 million in 2022.
