Mississauga Company Fined After Worker Critically Injured in Workplace Incident

A Mississauga company is facing a significant fine after a worker sustained critical injuries in a workplace incident.

The Ministry of Labour recently announced that Argo Lumber Inc., located at 7630 Airport Road, is facing a $75,000 fine in connection with an incident that took place at a residence in Vaughan in the fall of 2015.

The Ministry says that on Sept. 29, 2015, a worker was delivering lumber—including two 28-foot-long lumber beams—to a residential address in Vaughan.

According to the Ministry, the beams (which weighed about 245 pounds in total) were loaded on top of the truck headboard at an angle on top of other pieces of lumber. Strapping was used to secure the beams to each other and to the bed of the truck.

The worker climbed onto the truck bed, removed the strapping from the beams and attempted to push them off the side of the truck. While doing so, the worker lost balance and fell about seven and a half feet from the truck to the driveway below. The two beams also fell, and the worker sustained critical injuries.

Investigation by the Ministry of Labour revealed that the worker had received some training on how to deliver lumber to residential sites and construction projects but had not been given adequate information or instruction on how to safely unload beams longer than 22 feet.

The ministry says the worker climbed on the truck and unloaded the beams by hand, an unsafe method of unloading.

The court has 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.