Serious Injuries to 15-Year-Old Worker Result in $48,050 Fine

A 15-year-old worker attempted to straddle a moving conveyor belt when she lost her balance and fell onto it. The conveyor belt pulled her under a metal brace for the conveyor’s motor, pinning her between it and the moving conveyor. She sustained serious injuries, including a fractured pelvis and sacrum, several crushed muscles and damage to nerves in her right leg and nerves affecting bladder and bowel control. The employer pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a worker used procedures for working near or crossing a conveyor that minimized risk to safety and was fined $48,050 [ShellMark Farms Ltd., Govt. News Release, July 9, 2012].