Ontario company fined $60,000 after worker hurt while cleaning industrial furnace

The Ontario Court of Justice in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Photo: Google Streetview

A company in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has been fined $60,000 after one of its workers was seriously hurt while cleaning an industrial furnace.

The accident happened at R.F. Contracting Inc. on April 1, 2020, according to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

The worker, whose fall protection harness and tether were not anchored, fell about 28 feet inside the furnace. R. F. Contracting Inc. failed to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 85(a) of Regulation 851, R.R.O. 1990, were carried out at a workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the ministry said.

Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Sault Ste. Marie, R. F. Contracting, Inc. was fined $60,000. 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.