HAMILTON — A steel company operating in the Stoney Creek region of Hamilton was convicted of an offence under the Industrial Establishments Regulation after a worker was crushed to death by a steel coil.
Janco Steel Ltd. of Arvin Avenue in Hamilton is a company that processes steel products, including slit-to-width large coils, a Ministry of Labour media release said. The fatal incident occurred July 21, 2016 and the firm was convicted May 3 of this year.
The statement explained that when a coil is cut in accordance with a customer’s specifications, the cut pieces are called “mults.” On that July day, workers were applying strapping to a group of steel coils that had been slit on the slitting line. The mults were secured on a coil car.
However, the coil car had been raised without first lowering the vehicle’s hold-down arm, which is an arm equipped with metal rings that slide into place that prevent the mults from tipping. As a result, the mult that was at the end of the arm was unstable. That mult fell off the machine’s turnstile and crushed the worker, causing fatal injuries.
Section 45(a) of the Industrial Establishments Regulation prescribes that “material, articles or things required to be lifted, carried or moved, shall be lifted, carried or moved in such a way and with such precautions and safeguards…as will ensure that the lifting, carrying or moving of the material, articles or things does not endanger the safety of any worker.”
A Hamilton justice of the piece found that Janco Steel failed to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 45(a) of the Industrial Establishments Regulation were complied with at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. This is an offence pursuant to section 66(1) of the act.
Following a guilty plea, Janco Steel was fined $150,000, and the court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.
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