Kubota Materials Canada fined $90,000 after worker hurt at Orillia, Ont., plant

The Kubota Materials Canada plant in Orillia, Ont. Photo: Google Streetview

Kubota Materials Canada has been fined $90,000 after a worker was seriously injured while manually clearing a blockage from an industrial machine in Orillia, Ont.

On Oct. 2, 2021, a worker was operating a Sieving Classifier, a machine used in the process of refining a powdered substance called TXAX, an asbestos alternative used as friction material in brake and clutch components of machines and automobiles.

While operating the machine, the worker noticed it was blocked, as the collection bucket below the rotary valve was not filling with material.

The worker attempted to manually clear the blockage at the bottom of the machine, which housed an exposed moving part that was not equipped with a guard. As a result, the worker was seriously injured by the machine’s moving parts.

Kubota Materials Canada Corporation failed as an employer to ensure that the machine was equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevented access to the exposed moving parts.

As a result, the employer endangered the safety of the worker, thereby violating section 24 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Kubota Materials Canada Corporation was fined $90,000. 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.