TORONTO — Coldstream Concrete Ltd., a company that manufactures precast concrete products for the construction industry, has been fined $75,000 after a worker suffered a permanent injury.
Following a guilty plea, the company was fined in a London, Ont. court by Justice of the Peace Thomas Stinson on Oct. 25.
The incident occurred August 2, 2017 at Coldstream’s plant facility in Ilderton, Ont. Two workers were working in the heavy precast yard, moving three-sided concrete culverts from the bed of a trailer onto the ground using a gantry straddle crane, which had been recently inspected and found to be in good working order.
The crane operator moved a 23,000-kilogram culvert from the trailer and set it down on the ground, indicates a Ministry of Labour release, adding the worker on the ground needed the culvert raised again in order to remove a metal date plate attached to the bottom of it.
The operator raised the culvert about five feet and, while it was suspended, the worker on the ground reached underneath and started to chisel the date plate away. While doing so, the worker heard a cracking noise and was knocked to the ground by the culvert, suffering a permanent injury as a result.
Later examination of the crane determined that a pin in the roller chain link connecting the crane’s hoist transmission drive socket to the hoist drum socket assembly had failed. This caused the hoist drum to rotate freely and the part of the culvert that had been supported by one end of the crane to fall to the ground.
According to the release, Coldstream failed to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 74 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments were complied with at the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
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