Ontario roofing manufacturer fined $65K after worker injury

Jan. 23, 2018 – A Brampton, Ont., manufacturer of residential and commercial roofing products has been fined $65,000 as a result of a workplace accident that resulted in a worker sustaining critical injuries after being pulled into the rollers of a laminator machine.

I.G. Machine & Fibers Ltd. pleaded guilty in Brampton court to failing to ensure a guarding device was in place on the machine to prevent access to the inch point.

The worker was operating a laminator machine, which is designed to automatically join asphalt and fibreglass materials together by the process of heat-welding. The process feeds roofing material through large rollers to produce membranes for commercial roofing applications. While adjusting product that was being fed through the laminator machine rollers, the worker’s arms were pulled between the rollers. The machine had previously been guarded with an anti-nip bar that prevented access to the rollers, but it had been removed at the time of the incident.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, section 25 of Ontario Regulation 851/90 (the Industrial Establishments Regulation) requires that any part of a machine, device or thing that may endanger the safety of any worker shall be equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevents access to the pinch point.

The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge in addition to the fine for the section 25(1)(c) violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.