Worker critically injured while cutting a piece of melamine with a table saw
Ontario manufacturing employer General Coach Canadawas fined $60,000 after one of its workers was critically injured in the workplace.
Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Goderich, the employer was also tasked to pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
The incident happened on April 20, 2023, when a worker was cutting a piece of melamine using a table saw.
However, the protective shield that goes over the saw blade, and prevents inadvertent blade contact, was missing.
The worker was critically injured by the saw blade.
A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation determined that General Coach Canada failed to ensure that the panel saw was equipped with its shield and riving knife.
“By not ensuring the saw was equipped with a guard, General Coach Canada failed to ensure that the measures and procedures as prescribed by section 24 of Ontario Regulation 851/90 were carried out at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
Following the incident, the employer installed the protective shield on the saw as well as a riving knife.
