Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/1299031
www.thesafetymag.com/ca 9 MINING COMPANY PAYS $400,000 FOR ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLATIONS SELEINE MINES, a division of K+S Windsor Salt, was fined $400,000 after pleading guilty to four counts of violating subsection 125(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. An investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers found that the company had disposed of dredged material on four occasions outside of the disposal area authorized by the disposal at sea permit issued by the same department. The incidents happened between Aug. 10 and 14, 2014. As a result of this conviction, the company's name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. "Disposal at sea is prohibited unless a permit is issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Disposal at Sea Program. Only a short list of non-hazardous wastes can be considered for disposal. A permit's conditions on quantities of waste, disposal sites, and special precautionary measures are designed to ensure that the disposal is the most practical and environment-friendly option," said Environment and Climate Change Canada. The fines will be directed to the federal government's Environmental Damages Fund, where they will be used for environmental and conservation projects, often in the community where the offence occurred. Created in 1995, the fund is a program administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada to ensure that court-awarded penalties are used for projects with positive environmental impacts. There has been a raft of environmental convictions in recent months. The Town of Bow Island in Alberta and one of its former employees pleaded guilty to offences under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act filed against them. The town pleaded guilty to failing to immediately report structural or equipment malfunctions in the waterworks system. It was fined $10,000 and was placed under a two- and-a-half-year probation order that will closely monitor its compliance with legislated monitoring and reporting requirements. Montreal-based holding company 4422236 Canada Inc. was fined $260,000 after pleading guilty to two counts of violating the PCB Regulations and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. An investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers found that the company, owner of the Baltex Building in Montréal, was using a transformer containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a concentration greater than 500 ppm in September 2018. PCBs have been widely used for decades, particularly as refrigerants and lubricants for certain types of electrical devices such aS transformers and capacitors. PCBs are toxic, and measures under the act have been taken to control their use, import, manufacture, storage and release into the environment, according to the federal government. Lastly, the Alberta government has laid seven charges against Suncor Energy related to an incident that took place at the company's refinery located in Strathcona County in 2018. The company faces five charges for contravening a term or condition of an approval and two charges for releasing a substance into the environment that may cause an adverse effect and failing to report the release in a timely manner. All of the charges are contraventions under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. The incident is alleged to have occurred in July 2018. Fine Choice Foods Ltd. penalized for mixing blade incident Food manufacturing company Fine Choice Foods Ltd. was fined $69,464.36 following an investigation by WorkSafeBC. WorkSafeBC inspected Fine Choice Foods' processing facility after a worker was seriously injured. The incident occurred when the worker was adding scrap dough to an unguarded mixer. The worker was seriously injured after they were struck by the mixing blade. According to WorkSafeBC, "The firm failed to ensure that machinery and equipment was fitted with adequate safeguards to prevent workers from accessing hazardous points of operation. This was a repeated and high-risk violation." "A permit's conditions on quantities of waste, disposal sites, and special precautionary measures are designed to ensure that the disposal is the most practical and environment-friendly option." Environment and Climate Change Canada Workers injured after explosion at Colter Energy Services Colter Energy Services (Canada) Ltd., headquartered in Okotoks, Alta., was fined $25,860.15. WorkSafeBC conducted an investigation at the company's work site in Wonowon, B.C., a natural gas wellsite, following an incident involving a vacuum truck that was being used to clean the company's pressure separator vessel of waste materials. These materials included flammable hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The vacuum truck had not been bonded or grounded, despite being used with flammable materials. This created a static electricity ignition source, which led to an explosion. Two workers sustained serious injuries. Fitness chain hit with $147K fine for workplace violations Steve Nash Fitness World & Sports Clubs, a company that operates fitness centres and gyms throughout Canada, has been fined $147,238.19. Following a work site inspection at one of the chain's locations in Nanaimo, B.C., WorkSafeBC observed that, although the work site had more than 20 workers, the location did not have a functioning joint health and safety committee. Furthermore, WorkSafeBC then determined that the company did not have joint health and safety committees at any of its locations. The club's locations were closed during the pandemic. In addition, around 1,300 employees had their contracts terminated.