Workplace injury at east end location results in $90K fine for Farm Boy

By Anil Jhalli

A workplace injury at an Orléans Farm Boy location has resulted in a $90,000 fine for the grocery store chain. 

The incident took place on June 1, 2021 when two workers were dismantling a walk-in cooler at a warehouse facility on St. Joseph Boulevard in Ottawa's east end when one of the workers, who was not wearing fall protection, used a scissor lift elevated work platform to step on the top of the freezer to unscrew metal plates attached to the roofing panels.

The worker, who was not wearing fall protection, fell more than 10 feet to the concrete floor below. The worker sustained injuries as a result.

“Although the employer had a written fall protection policy and provided workers with fall protection equipment and the worker had received general working at heights training, the employer did not provide them with site-specific working at heights training,” the Ministry of Labour said. “Further, no information or instruction was provided to the worker with respect to how to safely dismantle the cooler.”

Farm Boy pleaded guilty in court and was fined. The court also 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.

 

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