Richards Landing aggregate company fined $60,000 for 2021 incident
An aggregate company based out of Richards Landing has been fined $60,000 for its role in an incident that led to critical injuries to a worker in 2021.
Gilbertson Enterprises entered a guilty plea in Provincial Offences Court in Sault Ste. Marie in conjunction with an incident at the MTO Fungus Creek Pit quarry, which is located near Highway 17, north of Wawa.
The company will also pay a 25 percent victim fine surcharge that is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
The incident occurred on May 15, 2021.
Two of Gilbertson’s workers were performing maintenance work on a portable cone crusher, which involved removing and replacing drive belts on the motor. The motor weighed approximately 3,700 pounds.
In order to replace the belts, the motor was connected to a loader using two chain slings and hooks but remained attached to a pivoting base by two of its four mounting bolts.
The loader was used to partially suspend the motor to allow access to the drive belts.
Tension between the motor and drive belts was removed so that the belts could be replaced. The belts were then re-tensioned, using a bottle jack to perform the final adjustments.
When a worker reached under the motor to use the bottle jack, one of the chain slings supporting the motor broke, causing the motor to fall and resulting in a critical injury.
An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that the chain slings used to elevate the motor were not labelled with the maximum load rating capacity or working load limit.
A ministry engineer also determined that the rigging was inappropriate for lifting, and that it was possible the tension in the failed chain exceeded the weight of the load and the strength of the chain in the circumstances. To ensure that the working load limit of the rigging was not exceeded, slings and other rigging should have been labelled with the maximum load rating capacity or working load limit.
Gilbertson Enterprises was found to have failed to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that chain slings used to elevate the motor on the portable cone crusher were labelled with the maximum load rating capacity or working load limit, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.