Ontario nail manufacturer fined $50K for critical injury of worker

August 19, 2019 – THS Industries Ltd., a company that manufactures steel nails, has been fined $50,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour after pleading guilty to an offence involving a critical injury to a worker at its production facility in Kitchener, Ontario.

On January 17, 2018, a worker was installing a rubber flexible printing plate on the automatic flexo printing machine at the workplace. A co-worker was operating the controls of the machine and could not see the worker who was on the other side of the machine.

The first worker became pinned between two rollers of the machine while it was operating and received critical injuries as a result of the incident.

A Ministry of Labour inspection revealed that the injured worker did not receive adequate information, instruction, and supervision on how to safely operate the printing press.

The Occupational Heath and Safety Act states that employers must ensure that workers receive adequate information, instruction and supervision to protect the worker. 

The defendant has a prior conviction with an offence date of April 13, 2016. In that incident, a machine was found to be unguarded. The Ministry of Labour placed a “stop work order” on the machine; however, the machine was used before the ministry lifted the stop work order. No one was injured. The company was fined $20,000 on April 10, 2017.