Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development
Convicted: AMHIL Enterprises Ltd., 156 Adams Boulevard, Brantford, Ontario; a manufacturer of plastic packaging for the food services industry.
Location: The company’s facility on 5330 Mainway Drive in Burlington.
Description of Offence: A worker suffered critical injuries after being struck by a moving forklift that was operating in reverse.
Date of Offence: September 16, 2018.
Date of Conviction: December 20, 2019.
Penalty Imposed:
- Following a guilty plea, AMHIL Enterprises Ltd. was fined $70,000 in provincial offences court in Burlington by Justice of the Peace Gerry Manno; Crown Counsel Judy L. Chan.
- 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 September 16, 2018, a worker was pulling a load of scrap plastic sheeting over to the scrap plastic grinder and was struck by a forklift. The operator of the forklift had picked up a skid of product from the shrink wrapper and the forklift was reversing when it struck the worker, who fell and was partially run over.
- There were no barriers, warning signs or other safeguards for the protection of all workers in the area which had both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
- The worker suffered critical injuries.
- Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act states that an employer shall ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by the act and regulations are carried out at the workplace. Section 20 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments prescribes that barriers, warning signs or other safeguards for the protection of all workers in an area shall be used where vehicle or pedestrian traffic may endanger the safety of any worker.
- AMHIL Enterprises failed as an employer to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 20 of the regulation were carried out at the workplace. This is an offence pursuant to section 66(1) of the act.