TORONTO – Andritz Hydro Canada, a Quebec company that supplies hydro turbines and generators in Canada, was fined $80,000 following an incident where a worker was critically injured after being struck by a falling sole plate.
The incident occurred March 16, 2023 at a workplace located at 860 Red Rock Road in Iron Bridge, Ont.
The conviction was handed down Oct. 2. Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Sault Ste. Marie, Andritz Hydro Canada was fined by Justice of the Peace Kyle Cachagee. Crown Counsel was Dan Phelan.
Andritz Hydro Canada was a constructor and employer for a project to rehabilitate the hydroelectric generators at the Red Rock Falls Generating Station in Iron Bridge.
On the day of the incident, two millwrights were correcting an installation performed earlier of three metal sole plates to the underside of a stator frame. The three metal keys that had been used to align and position these metal sole plates had been inserted incorrectly and needed to be removed and put back into place.
The millwrights began correcting the orientation of the metal keys, indicates the bulletin, adding on the first sole plate one of the millwrights, under the direction of the other, began loosening the bolts that held the sole plate to the stator frame.
When the bolts were fully removed, the support jack was released and the sole plate tipped inwards and fell out of its pocket. It critically injured one of the millwrights.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Andritz Hydro Canada failed to ensure that the sole plate was adequately braced to prevent any movement that may affect its stability or cause its failure or collapse, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
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