An Ontario farm equipment dealership worker’s fatal injuries in a forage harvester will cost the company a $100,000 fine, a provincial court ruled Monday.
Weagant Farm Supplies of Winchester, about 50 km southeast of Ottawa, pled guilty Monday in the Ontario Court of Justice in Morrisburg to charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act, stemming from a September 2006 incident in which a worker was assigned to ready a forage harvester for delivery to a buyer.
“The worker had installed the crop processor and engaged the power to
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attachment,” the provincial labour ministry wrote in a release Tuesday.
“The worker’s arm became entangled in the moving mechanism. The
worker’s upper body was pulled through the feed rolls and into and through the
cutting blades, resulting in massive fatal injuries.”
According to the ministry, its investigation found that “the incident could have been prevented had the employer taken the necessary steps to ensure all motion on the harvester that could endanger a worker was stopped and blocked to prevent movement before and during maintenance.”
On top of the fine, the company is required to pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which the ministry said will go to a provincial fund to assist
victims of crime.
