Canadian Occupational Safety

8 www.cos-mag.com Canadian Occupational Safety COMPANY MUST SPEND $295,000 ON EDUCATION PROGRAM Winfield Industrial Sales, based in Hinton, Alta., has been ordered to pay $295,000 for an Alberta Forest Products Association educational program and fined $5,000 due to a workplace fatality. Winfield must develop and make available an edu- cational program concerning fall protection, energy isolation and safe- guards against harm. On Nov. 23, 2015, a worker was installing guardrails on top of a bleaching tower and became entan- gled with the coupling on the gear drive. The worker was pulled into the machine and subsequently died due to injuries. The company pleaded guilty to section 139(1)(b) of Alberta's OHS Code, failure to ensure that workers used a fall protection system at a temporary work area where a worker could fall a vertical distance of less than 3 metres if there was an unusual possibility of injury. FINES & PENALTIES 2 COMPANIES FINED FOR SAME INCIDENT Saskatchewan has fined two out-of-province companies for OHS violations. Western Energy Services (operating as Horizon Drilling) of Calgary pleaded guilty to contravening subsection 17(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (being an employer, fail to ensure that all work at a place of employment is sufficiently and competently supervised, resulting in a serious injury to a worker). The company was fined $71,429 plus a surcharge of $28,571, for a total of $100,000. Great Western Tong Services of Virden, Man. pleaded guilty to contravening subsection 137(1)(a) of the regulations (being an employer, fail to provide an effective safeguard where a worker may contact a dangerous moving part of a machine, resulting in a serious injury to a worker). The company was fined $25,000, plus a $10,000 surcharge. Both companies were fined following a workplace incident on March 19, 2017, near Stoughton, Sask. A worker was hospitalized after their forearm became entangled in the moving gear of a power tong. LOBSTER FISHERMAN'S DEATH RESULTS IN $60,000 PENALTY Little Rye Fisheries of Shelburne, N.S. has been ordered to pay $60,000 in fines and penalties for the death of a fisherman. Jimmy Buchanan was working onboard a fishing vessel, Secret Sea, on Jan. 7, 2017. Buchanan fell overboard and drowned as the crew was setting lobster pots off the vessel's open stern. Buchanan, 44, was a non-swimmer and he was not wearing a personal floatation device (PFD). "PFDs, life jackets or equivalent protections against drowning are mandatory under the Occupational Safety General Regulations and recognized by industry as essential safety gear," said Crown attorney, Alex Keaveny. "PFDs provide critical protection against the unique drowning risks present in cold water, including cold shock, cold incapacitation and hypothermia." Little Rye Fisheries had a number of PFDs onboard, but they did not meet the requirements of the safety regulations. The company is required to pay a $20,000 fine, plus a $3,000 victim fine surcharge; make a $5,000 donation to the Nova Scotia Fishing Sector Council's Fishing Safety Now plan; make a $22,000 donation to the Nova Scotia Fishing Sector Council for PFD safety videos; and pay for safety billboards at a cost of $10,000. As part of creative sentencing, the fishing company is required to conduct five one-hour safety presentations. "Little Rye Fisheries could have, and should have, ensured Mr. Buchanan's protection against the obvious risks of him falling into the icy January water," Keaveny said. "Mr. Buchanan should have returned home safely to his family and should still be fishing today." COLLAPSED TRENCH BREAKS WORKER'S LEG MacArthur's Paving and Construction of Moncton, N.B. has been fined $6,400, plus a victim surcharge of $1,600. An employee of MacArthur's was in a trench installing a water pipe when the ground behind him caved in and his leg was broken. The trench was 7 feet deep and did not have any caging, benching or sloping to make it safe. MacArthur's Paving and Construction pleaded guilty to a charge under 182(1) of Regulation 91-191 under the New Brunswick OHS Act. The company failed to ensure that no employee enters an excavation or trench 1.2 metres or more deep unless the walls are supported by shoring, bracing, caging or that the walls are sloped or benched. The same incident resulted in a charge to Todd Stannard, the excavator operator, for failing to ensure the health and safety of any persons at his place of employment. Stannard pleaded not guilty and his trial had not yet taken place as of press time. VALE FINED $124,000 FOR INCIDENT AT THOMPSON MINE Mining company Vale Canada has been fined $124,000 for a worker's permanent eye injury. On April 30, 2016, Vale Canada workers were tasked with grouting cables (filling holes in the rock face containing cables with liquid grout) on the 4070 level of the T3 Mine in Thompson, Man. To fill the holes, workers stood on an elevated scissor deck. The workers used a pressurized rock bolt and cable grouter to pump liquid grout into the holes through a pressurized 1.05-inch diameter polyethylene hose. While filling one of the holes, the pressurized hose ruptured, spraying two workers in the face with liquid grout. The grout entered a worker's left eye. With no eyewash station available on the scissor deck, workers used a water bottle in an attempt to flush the eye. The injured worker was brought down from the scissor deck and transported to the level 4070 retreat station, but there was no eyewash station available there either. The injured worker was driven for approximately five minutes to level 4250 where they were able to flush the eye using an eyewash station. The worker was then brought to the surface where he received another eye flush from the T3 Mine first aid attendant. The worker was transported to Thompson General Hospital and then transferred to Winnipeg for further treatment. B.C. PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL HIT WITH FINE OF $646,302 The Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission in Port Coquitlam, B.C. has been fined $646,302 for two separate incidents of violence, both where patients with histories of violence attacked and injured medical staff. Two workers were injured by the patient in the first incident; three were injured by the patient in the second. WorkSafeBC's inspections determined there were multiple deficiencies in the employer's health and safety practices, in particular, those related to risks of violence. The employer failed to conduct a violence risk assessment that included a consideration of previous workplace experiences, failed to establish policies and procedures to minimize the risk of violence, failed to instruct workers in those policies and procedures and failed to inform workers of the risk from patients with a history of violent behaviour. These were all repeated violations. In addition, the employer failed to investigate reports of unsafe conditions and take necessary corrective action.

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