Employer Fined $150,000 after Worker Is Crushed While Riding Rail Car

Part of a workplace contains a rail spur that allows rail cars access to the facility to be loaded with product. It was common for a worker to ride on a fixed ladder on the rail car being moved along the spur and through buildings in the facility. Although the two workers moving rail cars were required to maintain visual contact, there was no written procedure on the riding of rail cars. As a worker was riding on the fixed ladder on the rail car, he struck one of the steel posts below the gangway and was squeezed between the post and the rail car. He suffered severe injuries and died 10 days later. The employer pleaded guilty to violating the Industrial Establishments Regulation and was fined $150,000 [Ingredion Canada Inc., Govt. News Release, Dec. 15, 2015].