Lambton Conveyor fined $30K after worker hurt on job
A manufacturing company in southwestern Ontario has been fined $30,000 over an incident that saw a young worker hurt on the job last year.
The Ministry of Labour issued a news release on Wednesday, highlighting the fine assigned to Lambton Conveyor Limited.
According to the news release, a worker was hurt at the company's industrial facility in Wallaceburg, Ont., on Jan. 21, 2014.
The ministry says the worker was in the midst of polishing a part known as a head shaft, which is a metal bar that is between two and three inches in diameter.
The polishing process involves using a strip of emery cloth that is placed around the shaft, as it rotates in a lathe. A worker holds the ends of this cloth as this task is completed.
The young worker was undertaking this job, while holding the cloth with nylon gloves the employer had given to him.
While in the midst of this process, the ministry says the cloth snagged on the rotating shaft and became caught.
That resulted in the cloth getting pulled into the lathe, while the worker's right hand was pulled into the rotating shaft.
As a result, the worker suffered "friction burns" to his arms and upper torso, along with fractures to several parts of his forearm.
An investigation by the ministry found that the worker "had not been sufficiently trained about the use of gloves while performing this task." The company also lacked a written procedure for the safe operation of lathes.
The ministry says the company "pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that a worker did not wear gloves while holding an emery board that was wrapped around a rotating shaft on a lathe."
Lambton Conveyor did not immediately return a phonecall requesting comment on Wednesday afternoon.
