Bert’s Truck and Trailer Repair fined $50,000 after worker hurt while repairing brakes

Photo: Adobe Stock

A Brantford, Ont.-based company has been fined $50,000 after a worker was seriously injured while repairing the brakes on a motor home.

On Dec. 15, 2021, the worker was asked to do the work on the vehicle, which was about 60 to 70 feet long, and parked behind the shop on a concrete pad sloping slightly downwards. Rubber chocks were placed in front of the front wheels to prevent the vehicle from moving forward, but nothing was placed to prevent it from moving backwards.

To temporarily elevate the motor home to be able to crawl under it, the worker drove the vehicle onto four 4×4 wooden blocks. The worker proceeded to grease the underside of the vehicle, while a co-worker stood beside the vehicle, passing tools and equipment.

After this, the worker used an oxygen/acetylene torch to heat up a clevis pin on the brake system to release the seized brakes. As soon as the clevis pin became unseized, the brakes released and the motor home rolled backwards, uphill, over the wooden blocks, onto the worker.

Consequently, the worker was seriously injured.

Section 74 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments requires that machinery, equipment or material that is temporarily elevated under which a worker may pass, or work, must be securely and solidly blocked to prevent it from falling.

By failing to take these safety measures, Bert’s Truck and Trailer Repair Inc. violated section 66(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Brantford, Bert’s Truck and Trailer Repair Inc., was fined $50,000. 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.