Canadian Occupational Safety

U P F R O N T F I N E S A N D P E N A L T I E S 6 www.thesafetymag.com/ca WORKER CRITICALLY INJURED IN MINING MILL ACCIDENT COBALT, Ont.-based SMC (Canada) Ltd. — a company that extracts and recovers precious metals in mining mills — was fined $75,000 plus a 25-per-cent victim surcharge after pleading guilty for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The incident took place on Feb. 7, 2019, when a worker was assigned to work in the crusher house where ore is moved through the crushing process on various conveyors before being processed in the mill. A conveyor belt in the crusher house was being started up for the day and was not working appropriately. A millwright asked the worker to go to the head end of the conveyor to apply belt dressing to help address the slipping belt. However, the millwright neither gave the worker specific instructions on how to complete the task nor directed the worker to a designated location where the spray could be applied in a safe manner while the belt was running. Also, the head pulley area of the conveyor was not equipped with a guard to protect a worker from a pinch point. The worker stood near the head pulley and applied a spray product while the belt was in motion. The worker was standing on a small mound of spilled loose gravel while completing this task. While repositioning the product from one hand to the other, the worker lost footing and slipped toward the running belt and got entangled between the running belt and the conveyor frame. The worker suffered a critical injury as a result. The injury required transportation to Sudbury for medical attention. According to the Ontario government, the defendant "failed to have a means to safely apply belt dressing while the conveyor was in motion as required by subsection 196(2) of the Mines and Mining Plants Regulation (Regulation 854)", thereby violating paragraph 25(1)(c) of the act. Cobalt was fined $75,000 plus an additional 25-per-cent victim surcharge equivalent to $18,750. This brings the total fine up to $93,750. The victim surcharge will be credited to a special fund with the aim of helping victims of crime. The Ontario government adds this victim fine surcharge (also known as a VFS) to every non-parking fine imposed under the Provincial Offences Act. The average surcharge is around 20 per cent of the initial fine. More specifically, according to the provincial government, the money is put toward the Ontario Victim Services, which says that it "works to ensure that victims of crime are treated with respect and receive the information and services they need. No one is prepared to become a victim of crime. It is a traumatic and difficult experience. Ontario Victim Services recognizes these hardships and is committed to providing victims with the support and services they need in the communities where they live." Saskatchewan company to pay $35K following snowmobile accident Alsport Sales Inc. was fined $35,000 for an injury to a worker. The worker was fatally injured after being thrown from a snowmobile in 2018. The company admitted to contravening clause 19(1) (b) of the regulations (being an employer, fail to ensure that a worker is trained in all matters that are necessary to protect the health and safety of the worker when the worker is moved from one work activity or worksite to another that differs with respect to hazards, facilities or procedures, resulting in the death of a worker). "[The defendant] failed to have a means to safely apply belt dressing while the conveyor was in motion as required by subsection 196(2) of the Mines and Mining Plants Regulation." Ontario government Firm slammed for lack of fall protection WorkSafeBC recently fined construction firm Friendly Construction Ltd. $15,784.76 for repeated violations. WorkSafeBC observed two of Friendly Construction's workers performing framing activities on the rooftop patio of a building under construction. WorkSafeBC found that, although the workers were being supervised by a representative of the firm, the workers were not using personal fall protection systems and that no other form of fall protection was in place, thus exposing the workers to a fall risk of more than three metres. This was a high-risk violation. STEP Energy Services slapped with $137K fine STEP Energy Services was recently fined $137,217.66 for workplace violations. After inspecting a worksite in Hudson's Hope, B.C., WorkSafeBC found a number of issues on the worksite, notably that the firm's lockout procedures were not equipment-specific, despite this being required, and that STEP's procedures did not include a requirement for two workers to independently lock out the energy-isolating devices. The company failed to ensure that these energy- isolating devices using locks were in accordance with procedures that should have been made available to all workers required to work on the equipment.

• Cover