Gay Lea Foods fined after worker injured by machinery

Apr. 29, 2017 – Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited (Gay Lea) pleaded guilty and has been fined $70,000 after a worker was injured by machinery.

On July 19, 2014, a Gay Lea worker operated a yogurt filling machine at the workplace in Toronto, Ont. The worker noticed that a yogurt tube was stuck on the line and tried to free it by hand. The worker’s hand then made contact with the machine’s blades, causing injuries.

An Ontario Ministry of Labour investigation determined that guards that would have prevented the worker’s hand from making contact with the blade were not in place while the blade was moving.

Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited was fined $70,000 by Justice of the Peace Esme Lall. 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.