Ontario company fined $110,000 after worker injured hand

A company in Concord, Ont., has been fined $110,000 after one of its workers was injured in June 2020.

The worker at Indwisco Limited was attempting to do a quality check on a vertical wire drawing machine. The machine was located on an elevated platform, accessible by a stairway with six steps.

“While climbing the stairs to perform the task, the worker lost their footing,” the Ontario government said in a press release.

When instinctively extending their arms to brace their fall, the worker’s gloved hand came in contact with the moving wire, injuring the worker. Indwisco failed to ensure the machine had a guard or other device to prevent access to the pinch points as prescribed in section 25 of Industrial Regulation 851/90, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O., c.O.1, as amended.

Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Newmarket Court, Indwisco Limited was fined $110,000 by Justice of the Peace Rhonda Shausterman; Crown Counsel, Line Forestier.
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.