Bonduelle Canada Inc. in Tecumseh has been fined $80,000 after a worker was critically injured while cleaning a conveyor belt.
On November 10, 2015, a worker in sanitation was cleaning a dewatering tank and conveyor at the company's vegetable processing facility on Lacasse Blvd. While scrubbing the conveyor, the worker's arm was pulled into the running conveyor belt. A co-worker stopped the machine and the conveyor belt was immediately dismantled to release the worker. At the time of the incident, the worker had not locked out the conveyor belts.
The machine was not equipped with a guard, which was required under the Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), and would have prevented the workers arm from becoming caught in the conveyor belt.
Bonduelle pleaded guilty on Monday in a Windsor court for failing to ensure that the measures prescribed by the OHSA were carried out at the workplace.
The court also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.
