SUDBURY -- The owner of a Chapleau lumber mill has been fined $250,000 after an investigation into a May 2018 workplace fatality.
According to a release sent by Ontario's Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, the worker was using a loader to move bundles of wood when the incident happened.
The labour ministry says there was no eye witness to the event, but it is believed that the operator had exited the machine to place material on top of the first load to create space for the next bundle when the loader rolled forward, pinning the worker between it and the pile.
As a result, the worker died of their injuries.
Montreal-based Rayonier A.M. Canada Industries Inc. acquired the lumber mill from Tembec just a few days after the incident.
Rayonier has now pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed in Ontario's Industrial Establishments Regulation were carried out in the workplace due to the unattended vehicle not being secured against accidental movement.
Ministry officials say several factors were revealed in the investigation:
- No mechanical defects to the braking system
- The brake actuator was modified, making the parking brake easier to release
- No wheel chocks had been applied to the tires
- The loader had been parked on uneven ground that sloped towards the wood bundle
- The forks of the loader hadn't been lowered securely to the ground and had been resting on an eight inch beam
In addition to the $250,000 fine, the court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which funds assistance to provincial crime victims.
