Pipe & Piling supplies fined $50,000 after worker injured while moving rail car in Toronto
November 28, 2022
By
OHS Canada
An Ontario company has been fined $50,000 after one of its workers suffered a critical injury while working on a rail car.
On April 8, 2021, an employee of Pipe & Piling Supplies in Toronto was using the forks of a front-end loader to move an empty rail car along railway tracks.
Once at the desired location, the worker jumped onto the rail car to access the hand brakes, but the rail car rolled backwards.
The worker became pinned between the rail car and the front-end loader, sustaining critical injuries.
Pipe & Piling Supplies Limited failed, as an employer, to ensure that the unattended flatbed railcar was immobilized and secured against accidental movement, as prescribed in s. 57 of Ontario Regulation 851, contrary to s. 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company pled guilty and 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.