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  The quarterly newsletter for Safety Professionals

Q2, 2007

Issue 6
   

In The News

 

Columbia Forest Products Fined $125,000 for Health and Safety Violation

March, 2007: Columbia Forest Products Ltd., was fined $125,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in two amputated fingers.
 


HEARST, ON, March 27 - Columbia Forest Products Ltd., a Portland, Oregon-based manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer, with a lumber mill that produces plywood and particle board in Hearst, was fined $125,000 today for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in serious hand injuries to an employee.
    On July 5, 2005, a worker was attempting to straighten a crooked board in a plywood press when two other workers, including a shift foreman, initiated the press cycle. The press closed on the first worker's hand resulting in two of the fingers having to be amputated. The incident occurred at the company's particle board mill at 220 Prince Street in Hearst.
    A Ministry of Labour investigation found the outfeed end of the press, where the first worker was working, did not have a guarding device to prevent access to the moving press plates.
    Columbia Forest Products Ltd. pleaded guilty, as an employer, to failing to ensure the press was equipped with, and guarded by, a guard or other device that prevents access to the moving parts, as required by Section 24 of the Regulations for Industrial Establishments. This was contrary to Section 25(1)(c) of the act.
    The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Jean-Marie Blier of the Ontario Court of Justice in Hearst. In addition, 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.

 

Source: http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2007/03/27/c7214.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html

Click here to see a list of Fines for Health & Safety Violations.
 

 
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