Another manufacturer fined after workplace accident

Oct. 20, 2014 – Aluminart Products, a business that manufactures aluminum and vinyl windows and storm doors, has pleaded guilty and has been fined $50,000 after a worker suffered the amputation of part of a finger.

On April 9, 2013, a worker was using a punch press at the company’s facility in Brampton, Ont. The worker was feeding the stock material into the machine via an opening about four inches wide. The machine began to cycle while one of the worker’s fingers was inside the opening. When the cycle completed, a shear piece — a part used to cut the stock material — amputated part of the worker’s finger.

A Ministry of Labour investigation revealed that two weeks prior to the incident, there had been a complaint to the employer and supervisor about the hazards posed by the opening on the machine.

Section 25 of Regulation 851 (known as the Industrial Regulation) requires that a nip hazard or any part of a machine, device or thing that may endanger the safety of any worker be equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevents access to the pinch point. The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers to ensure that safety measures prescribed by Regulation 851 are carried out in the workplace. The employer failed to ensure that the punch press was guarded by a guard or other device as prescribed.

Aluminart Products Limited pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000 by Justice of the Peace Michael Barnes in a Brampton court. 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.