Ontario employer fined $80,000 for worker injury | Canadian Occupational Safety

Worker got injured by a grinding machine

Ontario employer Stackpole International Powder Metal, Ltd. was fined $80,000 after one worker was injured in the workplace.

Following in Provincial Offences Court, Stratford, the employer must also pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, to be credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The incident happened in Toronto on May 29, 2023, when a worker was asked to perform a tool change on a grinding machine designed to finish metal parts.

While the worker was in the process of the tool change, another worker turned the grinding machine on. This resulted in an injury.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that a fixed barrier guard at the front of the machine that protected workers from moving parts had been removed.

“Stackpole International Powder Metal, Ltd. (the Company) failed to ensure that machinery being operated was equipped with a guard or other device to prevent access to moving parts, as prescribed by section 24 of Ontario Reg. 851, Industrial Establishments. This is contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), the following are some of the basic safety principles that employes can share to workers who use surface grinders: