Packaging manufacturer fined $70K after worker critically injured by forklift

A manufacturer of plastic packaging for the food services industry in Brantford, Ontario has been fined $70,000 in provincial court after pleading guilty to a charge involving a worker who received a critical injury after being struck by a moving forklift at the company’s plant in Burlington.

AMHIL Enterprises Ltd. also received a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

According to an investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, on September 16, 2018, a worker was pulling a load of scrap plastic sheeting over to the scrap plastic grinder and was struck by a forklift.

The operator of the forklift had picked up a skid of product from the shrink wrapper and the forklift was reversing when it struck the worker, who fell and was partially run over.

There were no barriers, warning signs or other safeguards for the protection of all workers in the area which had both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The worker suffered critical injuries.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act states that an employer shall ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by the act and regulations are carried out at the workplace. Section 20 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments prescribes that barriers, warning signs or other safeguards for the protection of all workers in an area shall be used where vehicle or pedestrian traffic may endanger the safety of any worker.

The ministry found that AMHIL Enterprises failed as an employer to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 20 of the regulation were carried out at the workplace.