When you’re starting to drown between employee concerns, payroll duties and helping your CEO -- HR Insider is there to help get the logistical work out of the way.
Need a policy because of a recent regulatory change? We’ve got it for you. Need some quick training on a specific HR topic? We’ve got it for you. HR Insider provides the resources you need to craft, implement and monitor policies with confidence. Our team of experts (which includes lawyers, analysts and HR professionals) keep track of complex legislation, pending changes, new interpretations and evolving case law to provide you with the policies and procedures to keep you ahead of problems. FIND OUT MORE...
OHS Fines Scorecard for December 2023

There were 15 OHS fines of over $50,000 reported across Canada in December 2023. Not surprisingly, Ontario accounted for most of the fines with 11, followed by BC with 2 and Manitoba and Saskatchewan with one apiece. However, BC reported the highest fine, a $710,448 administrative monetary penalty against the provincial government for high-risk violations at a site where trees were being cleared to reduce wildfire risks.

The next biggest fine was the $500,000 penalty imposed on an Ontario forestry products company for a lockout violation that resulted in a fatality to an electrician making repairs to a debarking machine. Failure to properly lockout and deenergize machinery before and during servicing was the main theme in December, accounting for 4 of the 15 reported fines. There were also multiple fines for incidents involving falls that could have been prevented, including a $200,000 penalty against a Saskatchewan fertilizer producer for failing to guard the floor opening that an unsuspecting worker stepped into. This was the second highest OHS fine in Saskatchewan in 2023, trailing only the $250,000 penalty levied against an electrical company for a fatality in July.

Here’s a summary of all of the major OHS fines from December.

OHS Fines Reported in December 2023 (over $50,000)

Jurisdiction Fine Company What Happened Violation(s)
BC $710,448 Provincial Govt. Inspectors spot hi-risk violations at site where trees being cleared to reduce wildfire risks *Unsafe falling cuts, including stumps with insufficient holding wood
*Failure to monitor work
*Failure to ensure work performed by properly certified workers
ON $500,000 Resolute FP Canada Inc. De-barking machine unexpectedly starts up and kills electrician making repairs Failure to ensure machine was properly locked out
ON $280,000 Waste Management of Canada Corp. Worker at landfill site killed by dump truck moving in reverse Failure to ensure that a signaler was in place and proper traffic safety measures were followed
SK $200,000 Nutrien Ltd. Worker steps into unguarded floor opening and suffers serious injuries Failure to ensure floor openings covered by a secure covering
ON $190,000 Lehigh Cement Ltd 3 workers performing maintenance on a cement kiln suffer injuries in a flash fire caused by gas accumulation in a swirl air fan Failure to ensure that both valves of the swirl air fan were closed before letting natural gas flow into the system
ON $170,000 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. Worker suffers critical injuries while conducting maintenance and repair on an industrial fan that wasn’t properly deenergized Failure to ensure fan was repaired only when potentially dangerous motion was stopped and/or blocked
ON $150,000 Regional Sewer and Watermain Ltd. Worker cutting overhead wires suffers serious injuries after falling out of the bucket of a front-end loader Failure to prevent workers from using the loader as an elevated work platform
ON $125,000 Consbec Inc. Construction drill rig on uneven ground tips over and falls on worker causing fatal injuries Failure to ensure worker got sufficient info, instruction and supervision on safe operation of the drill rig
ON $100,000 Sin Structures Inc. Supervisor critically injured by pinch point at bridge construction site Failure to ensure the bridge girder/truss was moved in a safe way
ON $80,000 Dilico Anishinabek Family Care Resident of mental health treatment home attacks 2 workers at the facility Failure to assess workplace violence risks at the facility
BC $78,721 Super-Cut Lumber Industries Ltd Sawmill worker attempting to remove a sliver from moulder that’s still running gets caught in cutting head and suffers serious injuries Failure to ensure that energy isolating devices were secured with locks and required machine guards were in place
ON $75,000 Misteelco Inc Worker killed while moving a heavy metal beam at metal fabrication plant Failure to ensure the beam was handled safely
ON $70,000 Geerlinks Building Centre and Furniture Ltd. o/a Geerlinks Home Hardware Building Centre Worker killed by a forklift operated by a co-worker in a lumberyard Failure to provide workers proper info, instruction and/or supervision on safe operation of forklift
MB $65,000 Manitoba Hydro Worker removing fiberglass arms on concrete hydro pole contacted lines carrying 7,200 volts causes arc flash resulting in second-degree burns to the face Failure to ensure that the crew properly deenergized the lines before starting the work
ON $65,000 Alcot Plastics Ltd. Worker injured while trying to clear a jam on a production line Failure to ensure a machine was guarded to prevent access to a pinch point

Source: Bongarde