Ontario equipment manufacturer fined $45K for critical worker injury

Skyjack Inc., a manufacturer of elevated material handling equipment such as boom trucks and scissor lifts, has been fined $45,000 by Ontario provincial court after pleading guilty to an offence involving a critical worker injury at its Guelph facility.

The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

On August 22, 2018, a worker for Skyjack Inc. was removing a flange pin from the boom of a Skyjack boom truck at the company’s Woodlawn Road location. The worker was in a kneeling position on top of the cowling, which is the cover of the body of the truck and about seven feet above ground level.

The cowling is made of smooth fibreglass and slopes toward the boom, and is only 21 inches wide.

The worker was using pry bars to release the flange pin when the pin gave way, causing the worker to fall backwards off the cowling. The worker suffered critical injuries.

In an investigation, the Ontario Ministry of Labour determined that Skyjack as an employer neither provided a suitable and safe platform upon which the worker could carry out the work nor did it take other measures to protect the worker from the danger of falling.

The defendant did not take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.