Two workers suffer hand injuries; Veyance fined $80,000

Mar. 9, 2015 – Veyance Technologies Canada has pleaded guilty and has been fined $80,000 after two workers suffered hand injuries in separate incidents. The company’s plant at 45 Raynes Avenue in Bowmanville, Ont., processes and manufactures conveyor belts and employs about 130 employees.

In the first incident, which took place Feb. 20, 2013, a worker was moving a boom into position to lift it with a 50-ton overhead crane. The worker was moving a steel cable belt roll weighing over 72,000 pounds with the aid of a ‘keeper bar’ attached to the belt roll. The boom was being moved to the keeper bar when one of the worker’s fingers became pinched between the boom and keeper bar; a finger was partly amputated.

An Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) investigation found that this occurred contrary to Section 45(a) of Regulation 851, which governs industrial establishments in Ontario and states that anything required to be lifted, carried or moved should be done in such a way that does not endanger the safety of a worker.

In the second incident, which took place Dec. 18, 2013, another worker was using a knife to cut frayed threads which had been accumulating on a roller. While cutting off the threads, the worker’s glove on one hand got caught in an in-running nip hazard created by the brake and rollers. The nip hazard pulled the hand between the rollers and resulted in the amputation of two fingers.

This occurred contrary to Section 25 of Regulation 851, found the MOL investigation, which requires that an in-running nip hazard on a machine that may endanger the safety of any worker must be equipped with and guarded by a guard or other device that prevents access to the pinch point.

The company pleaded guilty and was fined $30,000 on the first incident and $50,000 on the second in Whitby court on March 4.

In addition to the fines, the court 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.