Worker was injured while unloading boxes from a carrier
A Quebec employer has been fined $60,000 by the Ontario government after one worker was injured in the workplace.
Drilling company Forages Technic-Eau Inc./Technic-Eau Drillings Inc must pay the sum following a guilty plea in provincial offences court in Timmins.
The employer must also 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 Feb. 1, 2023 at Highway 101 East, Holtyre, Black River-Matheson, Ontario.
That day, a worker was unloading boxes from an idling crawling carrier that was parked beside a pickup truck.
The worker failed to apply the parking brake before exiting the crawling carrier.
When exiting the vehicle, the worker then accidentally made contact with its control levers.
This caused the vehicle to move toward the parked pickup truck, causing serious injuries to the worker who was between the two vehicles.
“The company failed to ensure that the crawling carrier’s parking brake was applied before the worker exited the vehicle, as required under section 105(1)(i) of Ontario Regulation 854, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” according to the Ontario government.
