Mississauga company fined after worker struck by 800-pound paper roll

 

A Mississauga company has been fined after a worker was struck and critically injured by an 823-pound paper roll. 

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development recently announced that Green Belting Industries Limited, a company that manufactures polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tapes and adhesives, is facing a $60,000 fine following a serious workplace accident.

According to the Ministry, a worker was injured on Feb. 6, 2019, when a roll of paper slid from a lifting device that should not have been used for the task.

The court bulletin says the worker was asked to move paper or glass rolls while using a stacker, a small walk-behind lifting device used to lift and carry lighter loads. The bulletin says that when moving or removing rolls from the racking structure, workers were expected to use a forklift or reach truck, as those devices are designed for lifting heavier loads.

The Ministry says the worker, who was not a trained forklift operator, used the stacker for a task that it wasn't suitable for. The bulletin also says it was not the worker’s role to move rolls from the rack with the stacker.

The bulletin says that because the stacker could not be properly positioned, the roll started to overturn/tip to the right when lifted. When the worker tried to push the roll back onto the forks of the stacker, the roll fell and struck the worker, critically injuring them.

The Ministry says provincial regulations stipulate that an employer "must ensure that material, articles or things are transported or stored so that they will not tip, collapse or fall" and that the company "failed to ensure that the rolls were transported in a manner where they would not tip, collapse or fall," contrary to the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The company pleaded guilty to the offence and 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.