Worker suffered critical injuries while working on a bread conveyor belt
Ontario employer Breadsource Corporation – an industrial bakery – was fined $57,000 after one of its workers suffered critical injuries in the workplace.
Following a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court, the employer was also ordered to 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 July 15, 2022, at 1820 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ont., where the company produces bread products for wholesale and retail markets.
That day, a temporary help agency worker contracted to work at the company was assigned to a bread conveyor belt.
The conveyor had rotating rollers and gears that were not equipped with guarding or other devices to prevent access to its pinch points.
While adjusting bread on the conveyor, the worker suffered a critical injury.
“Breadsource Corporation failed as an employer to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed by section 25 of Ontario Reg. 851, Industrial Establishments were carried out at a workplace contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” said the Ontario government.
After the incident, the company installed additional guarding on the conveyor to prevent access to pinch points, Ontario noted.
CCOHS safety tips around conveyors
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), there are many hazards associated with working at or near a conveyor, including:
- Rotating parts or pinch points can drag in, crush or entangle
- Confinement or assembly areas (the area between a fixed object and a moving one) can shear or crush
- Parts that slide or reciprocate (press down) can crush or shear
- Items can break or be ejected (thrown from) the conveyor system
- Items can fall off the conveyor
- Electrical, fire or explosion hazards
When working near any conveyor workers and employers must “make sure all safeguards and guards, including cages, barriers, guardrails, warning signals, and other safety devices that are required are in place and operational,” said CCOHS.
Workers must also, among other:
- Wear hard hat and safety shoes.
- Tie back (and tuck in) long hair.
- Know the location of the emergency "shut-off" devices and how to use them.
Know how to work near machinery safely.
