August 14, 2019 3:00 P.M.
Convicted: THS Industries Ltd., 501 Manitou Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, a company that manufactures steel nails.
Location: The company’s facility at 501 Manitou Drive in Kitchener.
Description of Offence: A worker was critically injured while installing a printing plate on a printing machine.
Date of Offence: January 17, 2018.
Date of Conviction: August 12, 2019.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea, THS Industries Ltd. was fined $50,000 by Justice of the Peace Ralph Cotter in Kitchener provincial offences court; Crown Counsel Neil Gobardhan.
- 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:
- A worker was installing a rubber flexible printing plate on the Automatic Flexo Printing machine at the workplace.
- A co-worker was operating the controls of the machine and could not see the worker who was on the other side of the machine.
- The first worker became pinned between two rollers of the machine while it was operating and received critical injuries as a result of the incident.
- A Ministry of Labour inspection revealed that the injured worker did not receive adequate information, instruction, and supervision on how to safely operate the printing press.
- Section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Heath and Safety Act states that employers must ensure that workers receive adequate information, instruction and supervision to protect the worker. Consequently, THS Industries Ltd. breached section 25(2)(a) of the act.
- The defendant has a prior conviction with an offence date of April 13, 2016. In that incident, a machine was found to be unguarded. The Ministry of Labour placed a “stop work order” on the machine; however, the machine was used before the ministry lifted the stop work order. No one was injured. The company was fined $20,000 on April 10, 2017.