WELLAND, ONT.—The City of Welland has been fined $150,000 after a city worker died as a result of an infection he contracted after being critically injured on the job.
According to the Ministry of Labour (MOL), on Dec. 9, 2013 the worker, as part of a crew, was sent to 255 Willson Road in Welland to correct a sewer backup.
It was determined that the sewer/access cover had a blocked lateral pipe so the crew attempted to clear the blockage using a Vactor truck equipped with a rodding system. This is a process where a vacuum hose sucks waste materials out of the sewer or pipes and into a storage tank. A pressure hose then loosens the blockage to facilitate suction.
The workers could only empty about six feet of waste and could not actually see the pipe or blockage.
"The crew then attempted to use the pressure hose to loosen the blockage in the pipe. The pressure hose was attached to a rodder nozzle and lowered into the sewer/access cover towards the unseen lateral pipe; the pressure hose was not equipped with a guide fin," a release from the MOL reads. "The pressure hose was activated with the rodder nozzle outside the blocked lateral pipe, at which point the hose and nozzle unexpectedly returned, deflected off a crew member and struck the worker. The struck worker received multiple puncture wounds and suffered some blood loss."
The worker was taken by ambulance to hospital where he was diagnosed with an infection stemming from the incident.
The worker was initially hospitalized in the intensive care unit, prescribed antibiotics and maintained on a ventilator and vasopressor. The worker underwent surgery twice for wound closure in an attempt to remove infected and dead tissues, the release continues.
While the worker’s condition gradually improved as antibiotic treatment continued, on Dec. 26, 2013, the worker succumbed to the injuries and the infection and died. The coroner’s investigation indicated that the cause of death was due to an injury at work.
The MOL states the City of Welland did not report either the critical injury or the fatality to the ministry until Dec. 31, 2013.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that all industrial accidents that result in critical injury or death be immediately reported to the MOL.
After an MOL inspector conducted a field visit on Jan. 10, 2014 it was determined that the "workplace had no mandatory written policies or procedures requiring that workers not activate the rodding system when the lateral sewer pipe is not visible; that the Vactor truck’s manuals required that workers read and understand the manuals; and that the method used by the crew was inconsistent with a code of practice requiring that operators be qualified by proper training," the release explains.
Manuals indicated operators should not pressurize the jetting nozzle outside the sewer pipe and the nozzle should have had a guide fin.
The MOL states the defendant failed as an employer to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker on safe work practices while operating a jetting assembly on a Vactor truck.
After pleading guilty, the Corporation of the City of Welland was fined by Justice of the Peace Moira Moses in a Welland court on Dec. 16, 2015.
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