Both hit with five-figure penalties
Two Ontario employers have been fined after their workers suffered injuries in the workplace.
Misteelco Inc. was fined $75,000 after one worker was critically injured while moving a heavy metal beam.
The incident happened on Oct. 24, 2022, when a worker was assisting a co-worker in moving a 735-pound, 40-foot S-beam from a pile in the yard outside the company’s facility and into the shop.
The co-worker was operating a forklift to lift the beams, while the other worker was on the ground to help steer the beams – which were 40 feet long – as they were driven through the door of the shop – which was only 20 feet wide.
The co-worker threaded a metal chain around the forks of the forklift and attached a beam clamp to the end of the chain. They then drove the forklift to the centre of a pile of beams to lift and move an S-beam from the middle of the pile.
The worker who had been standing beside the pile held the beam to steady and guide it. While this was being done, the chain on the forks settled, causing the beam to wobble and fall out of the beam clamp. This resulted in a critical injury.
“A Ministry of Labor, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Misteelco Inc. failed to ensure the S-beam was transported, placed and stored so that it would not tip, collapse or fall, and could be removed or withdrawn without endangering the safety of a worker,” said the Ontario government.
Injured by automatic roll-down door
Meanwhile, Nova Cold Logistics ULC o/a Americold was fined $65,000 after a worker was critically injured by an automatic roll-down door while operating a lift truck.
The incident happened on Nov. 24, 2022, when a worker at the company’s facility was instructed to move pallets of product from a loading dock to a freezer room with an electric lift truck.
After doing so, the worker drove toward the exit known as the H-Door. A co-worker was standing in front of it.
The H-Door is a eight-foot wide, 12-foot high, high-speed, roll-down door operated by pull cords. Once a cord is pulled the door ascends quickly and remains open for seven seconds, before it descends quickly unless the cord is pulled again.
As the co-worker saw the worker on the lift truck approach, the co-worker pulled the cord to open the H-Door.
The worker standing on the lift truck throttled it forward towards the door while looking backward and speaking to the co-worker. By this time, the door had started to descend. The door hit the worker, causing a critical injury.
The H-Door was equipped with a sensor in its bottom leading edge. When it functions properly, the sensor causes the door to reverse if it meets resistance.
However, the door did not reverse when it struck the worker.
The sensor was not functioning at the time, and there is no other means of closing or stopping the descending door in the event something is under it, according to the Ontario government.
Also, there was no means of warning or alerting a worker that the door was descending and that it would not reverse.
“A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Nova Cold Logistics ULC o/a Americold failed to ensure that equipment, materials and protective devices provided by the employer were maintained in good condition, as required by Section 25(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
