Saturday, November 25, 2017

Frazier Industrial Company operating as Fracan, 163 North Murray Street, Trenton, Ontario, a steel fabrication facility, fined $55,000 after Worker Injured by Steel Struts



Trenton Company Fined $55,000 After Worker Injured by Steel Struts

Ministry of Labour
Convicted: Frazier Industrial Company operating as Fracan, 163 North Murray Street, Trenton, Ontario, a steel fabrication facility.

Location: 163 North Murray Street, Trenton.

Description of Offence: A worker  who was moving a bundle of steel using an overhead crane suffered permanent crushing injuries when an outer steel strut in the bundle moved inward.


Date of Offence: March 8, 2016.


Date of Conviction: November 22, 2017.

  
Penalty Imposed
  • Fracan was fined $55,000 by Justice of the Peace Christopher I. Peltzer in Belleville court at 235 Pinnacle Street; Crown Counsel Jai Dhar.
  • 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.

Background
  • A worker was given the task of moving a bundle of steel using an overhead crane. The bundle consisted of 20 steel struts stacked in four rows with three-inch wooden spacers between each row. The bundled weighed about 2,600 pounds and was 20.5 feet long.
  • The worker used a set of lifting chains attached to the overhead crane to move the bundle and was holding onto the bundle to keep it steady as it lifted.
  • As the load was being raised, one of the outer steel struts in the bundle suddenly moved inward and pressed against the next steel strut.
  • The worker suffered a crushing injury which resulted in a permanent injury.
  • The investigation by the Ministry of Labour revealed that it was common for the steel struts to shift in this manner when being moved by overhead cranes.
  • Section 45(a) of Ontario Regulation 851 (the Industrial Establishments Regulation) states that materials, articles or things required to be lifted, carried or moved, shall be lifted, carried or moved in a manner that does not endanger the safety of any worker.