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Resolute Forest Products was fined $500,000 in a Dryden courtroom for the death of a worker at its Ignace sawmill in northwestern Ontario last year.
The Montreal-headquartered company pleaded guilty in Provincial Offences Court on Nov. 28. The accident took place on March 28, 2022.
According to a news release issued on Dec. 15 by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skill Development, the worker was fatally injured while performing maintenance on a machine that was inadequately locked out.
Along with the half-million-dollar fine, the court imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by law.
At the time, the ministry said the unidentified deceased worker was a contractor working for Atikokan-based Tramin Industrial.
On March 28, 2022, an industrial electrician was attempting to repair a photo-eye on a debarking machine. Before the electrician performed the repair, discussion took place with the maintenance team to lock out and de-energize the debarker, in accordance with a written mill procedure.
The worker began performing the repair, believing the machine was properly locked out, and had positioned themselves in a gap between the infeed roller gears. The rollers then unexpectedly moved, trapping and fatally injuring the worker.
A ministry investigation determined the company’s written lockout procedure was inadequate to protect the worker from the hazard of the infeed rollers and drive gears moving while repairs and maintenance was being done. Not all sources of energy were identified and controlled, and the verification procedure did not test all sources of hazardous energy.
The court determined Resolute failed as an employer to ensure the debarker’s control switches and other controlled switches were locked out as required by section 76(a) of Ontario Regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
