News from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour
St. Catharines, Ontario, December 15th, 2015 – Ingredion Canada Incorporated has pleaded guilty and has been fined $150,000 in the death of a worker who was crushed while riding a rail car.
Part of the Ingredion workplace in Port Colborne contains a rail spur owned by the company that allows rail cars access to the facility to be loaded with product (the company is a maker of fructose sweeteners).
Two workers are involved in the movement of rail cars at the facility. One worker operates the Trackmobile; the other ensures the path is clear for the moving cars, and is also responsible for engaging and disengaging the hand brake, located at the end of a rail car.
It was a common practice at the time for a worker to ride on the rail car being moved along the spur and through buildings in the facility. It was also standard procedure for a worker to ride on a fixed ladder on the south side of the rail car, where there were no obstructions or clearance issues. This provided visibility of the worker to the operator of the Trackmobile. It was a known requirement at the facility that visual contact be maintained between the two workers moving rail cars. There was no written procedure which dealt with the riding of rail cars.
On November 8, 2013, a worker employed by Ingredion as a process operator was assisting in the movement of a rail car.
The worker was riding on the fixed ladder on the north side of the rail car and had visual contact with the Trackmobile operator. As the rail car moved through the building, the worker struck one of the steel posts below the gangway and was squeezed between the post and the rail car. The worker suffered severe injuries and died ten days later.
Ingredion Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to failing as an employer to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 12 of Regulation 851 (the Industrial Establishments Regulation) were carried out. Specifically, the clearance between moving rail cars and the stationary posts of the loading platform in the building was not sufficient to ensure that the safety of workers in the area was not endangered, and a worker was killed.
The company was sentenced to a fine of $150,000 by Justice of the Peace Mary Shelley in St. Catharines on December 15, 2015.
In addition to the fine, the court 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.
For more information on and from the Ontario Ministry of Labour click on http://www.ontario.ca/labour
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