Food manufacturer fined $60K by Ministry of Labour after worker injury

October 25, 2018 – Give and Go Prepared Foods Corporation, a manufacturer of baked goods, has been fined $60,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour after a worker was permanently injured at Give and Go’s Brampton, Ontario plant.

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.

According to the Ministry of Labour, on June 13, 2017, a worker employed by Give and Go as a general labourer was operating a sugar-sifting machine at the facility. To operate the sugar-sifting machine, a worker stands on a platform that surrounds the machine, and gradually empties large bags of icing sugar into the machine. An auger in the sugar-sifting machine transports the sugar to an industrial mixer, where it is mixed with other ingredients to make cake fondant.

The worker operating the sugar-sifting machine reached down and into the machine to move icing sugar towards the auger. The worker made contact with the auger, receiving injuries. The worker received first aid at the facility and was taken to hospital for further medical treatment.

At the time of the incident, the sugar-sifting machine was not equipped with a guard to prevent access to the rotating auger.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that an employer shall ensure the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace, and the Industrial Establishments Regulation requires that, where a machine has an exposed moving part that may endanger the safety of any worker, the machine shall be equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevents access to the moving part.

The Ministry of Labour says that Give and Go failed as an employer to ensure the sugar-sifting machine was equipped with a guard to prevent access to the rotating auger.