Ministry of Labour investigation determined equipment had unguarded pinch point
Waynco has been fined $110,000, plus a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, for the death of a worker who was struck and pinned by rock crushing equipment.
On Dec. 8, 2017, a worker was using a Pioneer crusher to break down pieces of aggregate while another worker operated a loader at the company’s pit in Cambridge, Ont.
The crusher received aggregate from the loader in a large steel frame called a grizzly deck. Occasionally, aggregate material has to be removed manually from the grizzly deck to prevent the machine from jamming.
As the loader approached the grizzly deck, the worker operating the loader saw that it was not closed, preventing access by the loader.
Upon investigating the delay, the loader operator found the body of the crusher operator under the grizzly deck.
A Ministry of Labour investigation determined that the crusher had an unguarded pinch point.
The investigation also found that the lowering lever for the grizzly deck was not functioning properly and would stick in the lowered position. A prop bar, used to hold the grizzly deck up during cleaning operations, was not in place and the machine had not been de-energized.
Waynco failed as an employer to ensure that before any work was done on a machine that it was stopped, all hydraulic, pneumatic or gravity stored energy was dissipated or contained, and that energy isolating devices were engaged, locked and tagged. This was contrary to section 185(7) of Ontario Regulation 854/90.
Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour
