Ministry of Labour has assigned investigators to the incident
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is investigating the death of a 38-year-old London man who was fatally injured at a workplace in Forest, Ont., on Tuesday, provincial police say.
The man was working on equipment at a site on Douglas Line in Forest, a community northeast of Sarnia, shortly before 4 p.m. when he was critically injured, The London Free Press reported, citing a statement from the Ontario Provincial Police. He was taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries.
In a statement reported by The Sarnia Observer, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said: “It was reported that a worker sustained (a) fatal injury when struck by equipment. Ministry inspectors have been assigned to investigate. As the investigation is ongoing, no further details are available at this time.”
The ministry has not released the name of the worker or further information about the employer, the equipment involved, or the type of work being performed.
The Ministry of Labour is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact its hotline at 1-877-202-0008.
The fatality is the second workplace death in Forest in a little more than two months, The Sarnia Observer reported. On Oct. 2, a 26-year-old Mexican worker was injured at the site of a municipal parkette project on King Street West and died shortly after.
Details about the employer or contractors involved in the October incident have also not been fully released, but that case, like Tuesday’s death, remains under investigation by provincial authorities.
No charges have been laid in connection with either incident, according to The London Free Press.
Hazards around machinery
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), hazards associated with working near or on machinery vary depending on the exact machine used but can include exposure to:
- moving parts (e.g., risk of injuries from entanglement, friction, abrasion, cutting, severing, shearing, stabbing, puncturing, impact, crushing, drawing-in or trapping, etc.)
- energy (e.g., electrical, electromagnetic, magnetic, etc.)
- heat or cold
- noise
- vibration
- radiation
- gas or liquid under pressure (e.g., injuries from injection or ejection by hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems, compressed air, paint sprayers, etc.)
- psychosocial hazards (e.g., stress, job content, work organization, cognitive factors, etc.)
“Because there are many different types of machines and processes, a risk assessment should be conducted for each machine or situation, and in some cases, before each use,” said the CCOHS. “It may be necessary to involve individuals with specialized or technical expertise.”
