A Burlington company has been fined $70,000 for a workplace accident that left an employee with fractures and a partial finger amputation.
The incident happened on June 7, 2013 at Samuel, Son and Co. Ltd. (also known as GO Packaging) located at 735 Oval Court when a worker was learning how to thread strands of plastic strapping along a production line as part of a peer-to-peer job advancement training.
The task involved running four strands of hot, freshly extruded plastic back and forth along the production line to cool it. A senior, experienced operator was acting as a lead hand during the training.
The trainee was instructed to shut down the machine and while reaching for a control panel on the side, near exposed rollers, his arm got entangled in the plastic strapping. He tried to use his other hand which also became caught.
The lead hand stopped the machine and co-workers used a hack saw to cut through the plastic to free the worker,who suffered bruising, sprains and bone fractures, as well as amputation of the tip of one finger.
A Ministry of Labour investigation followed and the company pleaded guilty to failing to appoint a competent person as supervisor when it appointed the lead hand as supervisor.
By law the lead hand was deemed incompetent because the company had not made him familiar with the Occupational Health and Safety Act or the relevant Industrial Establishments Regulation.
The company was fined $70,000 by Justice of the Peace Eileen Walker in Provincial Offences Court in Burlington Tuesday.
The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, which goes toward a designated provincial fund to assist victims of crime.
905-526-3214 | @MollyatTheSpec
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