TORONTO — Japan-based Access Limited has been fined $130,000 after a fatal incident in 2017 at a manufacturing facility in Tottenham, Ont.
According to the court bulletin, in August 2017, a worker was performing diagnostic tests on a new metal stamping press and feeder when a component moved and pinned the worker within the equipment, causing fatal injuries.
Access Limited is an engineering company that develops, designs and manufactures automation equipment for automated press and machine lines and provides production start-up and service support.
Following a guilty plea, the company was fined $130,000 by Justice of the Peace Grainne M.K. Forrest in Barrie provincial court on July 18.
On August 30, 2017, two Access Limited workers were assisting with the installation of a new metal stamping press and feeder and it was determined it would be safer to do it overnight when the equipment was not being operated by press technicians.
The power to the press machine was turned off but a piece of equipment known as a destacker feeder remained powered and operational, states the bulletin, adding one of the workers briefly left the work area in the early hours of August 31 and observed the other worker performing diagnostic testing at the destacker feeder control panel.
Upon returning, the worker discovered the victim’s body positioned in front of a part of the destacker feeder known as the DB bucket car, a small mechanized cart which travels along rails.
There is fencing surrounding the loading area for the bucket car which has an opening that allows the car to leave the loading area to the unloading area.
The body was found pinned between the edge of the bucket car and the frame of the fencing that surrounds the bucket car opening and there were no witnesses to the incident.
The Ministry of Labour (MOL) investigated the incident and determined the likely cause of the fatality was that while the worker was present within the fenced area, the bucket car started and moved along the rail towards the opening of the fence and the worker, states the bulletin.
The investigation also revealed that safety interlock circuits were installed around the bucket car.
If the fence door to the loading area is open or not present, the safety interlock circuits would be triggered and the bucket car would be prevented from moving, however, these safety interlock circuits had been overridden and the investigation did not reveal who overrode the interlock circuits or why.
Section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires an employer to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
The investigation determined that a reasonable precaution would have been to ensure control switches or mechanisms for the bucket car were locked out to prevent the starting of the bucket car where the starting of the car may endanger a worker, states the bulletin.
Access Limited failed to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances contrary to the act.
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