Truck maintenance company fined
KITCHENER — A numbered company carrying on business as Delta Truck Equipment and Phillip Hutton were fined $100,000 and $15,000, respectively, in early December following the death of a worker last year.
Hutton and the truck maintenance company pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring a truck engine was off and/or crane hydraulics were disengaged before draining hydraulic fluid, notes a statement from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) in Toronto.
On June 9, 2010, Hutton was performing maintenance on a hydraulic crane at the company’s shop in Breslau, Ontario when he mounted the crane onto a truck and determined the hydraulic fluid needed to be drained, the MOL reports. The supervisor went to drain the fluid as a worker monitored the fluid level.
During this procedure, the worker suffered fatal crushing injuries when the crane’s boom swung around and pinned the worker against the truck’s control panel. A ministry investigation determined that Hutton had left the crane’s hydraulics engaged and the truck’s engine running during the procedure.
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