Guarding Violation Results in $40,000 Fine

A worker for a company that manufactures industrial-use fabrics, who’d been with the company for less than three months, was assigned to work on a carding machine. He noticed that fibre was accumulating on the materials being processed on the machine, which clogged a vacuum head. To clear the head, he reached in under the table at the face of the machine and was pulled into it, causing an injury that required surgery. The MOL’s investigation found that there was no guard to prevent access to the carding machine’s pinch point. The company pleaded guilty to a guarding violation and was fined $40,000 [Albarrie Canada Ltd., Govt. News Release, Oct. 4, 2016].