TRENTON, ONT. — Frazier Industrial Company, operating as Fracan, was fined $55,000 after a worker who was moving a bundle of steel using an overhead crane suffered permanent crushing injuries when an outer steel strut in the bundle moved inward.
The steel fabrication company based in Trenton, Ont., was fined by Justice of the Peace Christopher Peltzer in a Belleville court on Nov. 22.
According to a Ministry of Labour (MOL) release, on March 8, 2016, a worker was given the task of moving a bundle of steel using an overhead crane. The bundle consisted of 20 steel struts stacked in four rows with three-inch wooden spacers between each row. The bundled weighed about 2,600 pounds and was 20.5 feet long.
The worker used a set of lifting chains attached to the overhead crane to move the bundle and was holding onto the bundle to keep it steady as it lifted. As the load was being raised, one of the outer steel struts in the bundle suddenly moved inward and pressed against the next steel strut, injuring the worker.
The investigation by the MOL revealed it was common for the steel struts to shift in this manner when being moved by overhead cranes.
The court found the company violated Section 45(a) of Ontario Regulation 851 (the Industrial Establishments Regulation) which states that materials, articles or things required to be lifted, carried or moved, shall be lifted, carried or moved in a manner that does not endanger the safety of any worker, the release states.
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