HAMILTON, ONT. — National Steel Car Limited, a Hamilton-based manufacturer of railcars, has been fined for its role in two workplace mishaps, one of which resulted in the death of a worker.
The incidents occurred three days apart in June 2022.
The critical injury occurred first. One June 3 of that year a worker moving scrap metal with a gantry crane was critically injured when a piece of metal fell from the crane’s magnet. The company was determined in court to have failed to ensure the magnet was thoroughly examined by a competent person to determine its capability of handling the maximum load as rated, as required by section 51(1)(b) of Ontario Regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Three days later, a different worker was fatally injured by a falling bulkhead panel while welding it to the floor of a railcar. The company was found to have failed to ensure the panel was secured against tipping or falling, as required by section 46 of Ontario Regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
That day, according to a Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development report, workers were assembling a gondola railcar. This involved welding bulkhead panels to the floor of the railcar.
The company’s standard operating procedure called for bulkhead panels to be held in place by one set of chains attached to an overhead crane and another set of chains attached to a ground-mounted level hoist. It also called for diagonal bulkhead alignment bars to be installed after welding was complete, before detaching the crane. These help to hold the panels in position until the next stage of construction of the railcar.
Workers were following the process when a welder signalled to the crane operator to move the overhead crane to straighten a panel. The crane operator moved the crane into position and was signalled to stop.
During the process, a link in a chain securing the panel to the crane broke, causing the panel to fall towards the worker. The worker was fatally injured.
An investigation by the ministry found if the diagonal bulkhead alignment bars had been installed prior to welding, the panel would not have fallen when the link broke.
This would have secured the panel against tipping and falling, as required by section 46 of Ontario Regulation 851 for Industrial Establishments.
The company has since changed its standard operating procedures to require that diagonal alignment bars must be installed before welding begins.
The conviction for the fatal injury was registered July 31 and the other conviction was delivered Aug. 1.
Following guilty pleas in the Ontario Court of Justice in Hamilton, the company was fined $240,000 by Justice Davin Garg in relation to the fatal injury, and $50,000 by Justice of the Peace Alexander Andres in relation to the critical injury.
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