Employee reached inside hopper in which blades were active
Ontario employer Patheon Inc. – a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc. – has been fined $60,000 after one of its workers was injured.
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 on January 3, 2021, when a worker was cleaning out a hopper for a dust collection system, which contained a rotary valve with blades. While the worker was cleaning it, not all the dust or debris came out.
As per the usual procedure, the worker then used a stick to bang on the sides of the hopper. However, that did not dislodge the contents.
The worker then reached inside to clear the remaining dust and debris with their hand, which is contrary to company policy and training.
The hopper was not locked out during the cleaning process and the blades were still turning.
Read more: School Division fined, warned over lack of machine safeguards
Section 76 of Regulation 851 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that where the starting of a machine, transmission machinery, device or thing may endanger the safety of a worker:
(a) control switches or other control mechanisms shall be locked out; and
(b) other effective precautions necessary to prevent any starting shall be taken. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 851, s. 76; O. Reg. 230/95, s. 1.
“Patheon Inc., a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., failed to ensure that the hopper was locked-out prior to cleaning, contrary to section 76 of Regulation 851 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” according to the Ontario government.
Read more: Farm Boy fined after roof collapse injures worker
Previously, the Town of Picture Butte in Alberta was tasked with paying $30,000 in favour of the Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association (AMHSA) for an aquatic safety awareness campaign aimed at municipalities, and to pay $57,000 to Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) air ambulance.
Also, Frontier School Division in the settlement of Moose Lake was tasked to pay $30,000 for a December 12, 2019, incident when one of its workers was pushing wood through an unguarded table saw. During this process, their left hand came into contact with the rotating blade, resulting in severe lacerations.
