A London copper tubing manufacturer has been fined $75,000 after a worker was injured on the job.
Great Lakes Copper Ltd. was issued the fine after pleading guilty in provincial offences court.
The incident happened on November 4, 2019 at a shipping and warehouse facility, known as CDC, on South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas. A worker from a temporary agency and a second worker were in the warehouse, retrieving stock and getting it ready for shipment. The temporary worker was "shadowing" the second worker, who was operating a forklift to lift copper tubing while the temporary worker was standing between a weigh scale and a desk. The two workers were placing a bundle of copper tubes onto a rack on the weigh scale.
"Once the bundles were weighed and apportioned, the temporary worker wrapped two slings around the bundles, one at each end, and attached them to the forklift extension. Intending to maintain a tight bundle, a third "cinch strap" was added to the middle of the bundle," a news release from the Province of Ontario said. "The cinch strap was placed loosely over the top of the bundle after the forklift had already started lifting it. However, due to the height of the lift at the time, the temporary worker did not see that the strap had also been thrown around the fixed frame of the tube rack on the scale. The second worker raised the lift further, which now consisted of the tubing bundle and the tube rack."
The second worker saw that the rack was tipping and began to lower the lift. But the cinch strap released and the bundle and tube rack fell, hitting the temporary worker, who was knocked to the floor and pinned. The tube rack and tube bundle weighed about 1,300 lbs.
In addition to the fine, the company must also pay a 25% victim surcharge.
