Ontario's labour ministry issues 6 orders against Toronto food company after young worker dies
Ontario's ministry of labour has issued six orders against a Toronto food company after a 23-year-old female employee died following an industrial accident on Friday.
Janet Deline, spokesperson for the ministry, said Tuesday that two inspectors went to Fiera Foods Inc., near Wilson Avenue and Clayson Road, on the day of the fatal accident and ordered the company to not disturb the scene.
The female part-time worker, pronounced dead in hospital after the accident, had been on the job for less than three weeks. She had been working on a conveyor line when an article of her clothing got caught in the machinery. She was found without vital signs.
Deline said the woman, whose name has not been released, started working for the company on August 15. The woman was hired through OLA Staffing, a staffing firm based in Woodbridge, Ont., that connects workers with temporary jobs.
A ministry inspector and an engineer went to the scene on Sunday and issued six orders and one more requirement to Fiera Foods, Deline said.
They include:
- One stop work order to prevent access to in-running nip hazard (spots where materials enter a gradually narrowing space on a moving machine, like the space between two rolling pins).
- One stop work order to provide an emergency stop control on machine.
- One requirement for an engineering assessment of the conveyor line where the accident occurred.
- One time-based order to provide safe access and egress from the work area where the accident occurred.
Deline said the investigation is continuing.
If the ministry determines the working conditions at the company were unsafe, it could lay charges.
