Convicted: Give and Go Prepared Foods Corporation, a manufacturer of baked goods, 6650 Finch Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario.
Location: The company’s facility at 725 Intermodal Drive, Brampton, Ontario.
Description of Offence: A worker suffered permanent injury after reaching into a sugar-sifting machine while it was operating.
Date of Offence: June 13, 2017.
Date of Conviction: October 23, 2018.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea, Give and Go Prepared Foods was fined $60,000 by Justice of the Peace Jeannie Anand in Brampton court; Crown Counsel Amanda Landre.
- The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
Background:
- On June 13, 2017, a worker employed by Give and Go as a general labourer was operating a sugar-sifting machine at the facility.
- To operate the sugar-sifting machine, a worker stands on a platform that surrounds the machine, and gradually empties large bags of icing sugar into the machine. An auger in the sugar-sifting machine transports the sugar to an industrial mixer, where it is mixed with other ingredients to make cake fondant.
- The worker operating the sugar-sifting machine reached down and into the machine to move icing sugar towards the auger. The worker made contact with the auger, receiving injuries.
- The worker received first aid at the facility and was taken to hospital for further medical treatment.
- At the time of the incident, the sugar-sifting machine was not equipped with a guard to prevent access to the rotating auger.
- Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that an employer shall ensure the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace.
- Section 24 of the Industrial Establishments Regulation requires that, where a machine has an exposed moving part that may endanger the safety of any worker, the machine shall be equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevents access to the moving part.
- As such, Give and Go failed as an employer to ensure the sugar-sifting machine was equipped with a guard to prevent access to the rotating auger.
– Ministry of Labour