Samir Subedi got trapped in smokehouse
Ontario-based Sofina Foods Inc. has been fined $330,000 following the death of one of its workers in a workplace incident.
The incident occurred on March 2, 2023, when 32-year-old Samir Subedi—an Edmonton-based worker—went to check the temperature of a gas-fired smokehouse. The smokehouse had been loaded with meat the previous night, according to a report from The Canadian Press (CP).
Subedi—a superintendent at the workplace, according to CBC—became trapped inside the smokehouse.
CBC reported that the smokehouse’s emergency handle, designed to open the door from the inside, was broken. In its place was a door stopper that had not been approved by the company’s engineering team.
A temperature probe in the smokehouse registered a reading of 92°C.
A co-worker later found Subedi unconscious inside the smokehouse, CBC noted.
Sofina Foods pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of the worker in Edmonton, according to the CP report.
The company has also already paid $500,000 to Subedi’s family—before tax deductions—to help cover the mortgage on their home, according to CBC. Subedi is survived by his wife and two young children.
Workplace safety system
Prosecutor Hendrik Kruger told the sentencing hearing that while the company had a comprehensive safety system in place, it failed to monitor compliance and provide proper training regarding the door mechanism.
“The incident was entirely preventable,” Kruger said, according to the CP report posted in the Winnipeg Free Press.
"The Crown submits that the level of negligence here was at the high end. The Crown would not hesitate in describing that as a gross level of negligence," Kruger also said, according to CBC.
The prosecutor also asked for 25 other charges against the company to be withdrawn.
Defence lawyer Loretta Bouwmeester said Sofina acknowledges its failure, stating: “These types of offences are—certainly, it goes without saying—tragically impactful to the family and their communities, and to all the workers in an organization. They deeply affect everyone involved.”
Sofina Foods fully cooperated with the Occupational Health and Safety investigation, and has since increased staffing in its engineering and health and safety departments following Subedi’s death, according to the report.
