Employer Blames OHS Inspector for Causing Machine Guarding Violation

A sawmill is hit with a $5K administrative monetary penalty for a machine guarding violation after an OHS inspector sees a sawmill worker working underneath an unguarded rotating chain on a trim saw conveyor belt. The sawmill appeals, contending that the worker was working on the other side of the belt and crossed under the chain only after the inspector asked him to move. But the Alberta Labour Relations Board doesn’t buy it and upholds the AMP. The inspector didn’t order the worker to put himself in danger. The fact is that the belt was unguarded and the worker was right beneath it, the Board concludes [DH Manufacturing Inc., Board File OHS2018-12, September 20, 2019].