Scrap metal firm fined for injury of crane operator

KITCHENER, ONT. — A Brampton, Ont. firm, Triple M Metal Corp, has been fined $120,000 for its role in the critical injury of a crane operator it employed at a Kitchener jobsite in July 2020.

Triple M Metal pleaded guilty Jan. 17 in Kitchener court. The firm is one of North America’s largest recyclers of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal.

On the day of the mishap, the worker was loading a rail car at a worksite on Balzer Road in Kitchener with his crane. His crane was equipped with an electromagnet device, allowing him to move and place cubed scrap metal that another worker had made using a bailer.

Other rail cars were waiting to be processed on an adjacent spur line and were next to be filled. After the worker had finished loading the rail car, he climbed down from his crane for the purposes of releasing brakes on another rail car, which was on the same rails as the car he was working on.

The mechanical brakes are operated by a hand wheel at the end of the rail car and require a worker to climb onto the rail car to release them.

As the worker was either climbing onto rail car three or releasing the mechanical brakes while standing on rail car three, the other crane operator shunted rail car one, sending it down the tracks, coupling with rail car two and eventually colliding with rail car three.

During this process the worker was critically injured.

The yard supervisor was on lunch in his office at the time of the incident and was in the yard when the injury occurred. He was the first to respond to the call over the radio when the injury occurred.

This was determined to be contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires an employer to ensure compliance with the measures and procedures prescribed by the act and regulations. Section 45(a) of the regulation for Industrial Establishments requires that material, articles or things, required to be lifted, carried or moved, shall be moved in such a way and with such precautions and safeguards, including protective clothing, guards or other precautions, as will ensure that the moving of the material does not endanger the safety of any worker.