Town of Pelham Fined $60,000 After Worker Injured

Fines and Penalties for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act

 

May 23, 2012 11:39 AM

St. Catharines, ON - The Corporation of the Town of Pelham was fined $60,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a young worker was injured.
On August 25, 2011, summer students working for the Town were repairing the lids of catch basins, which are the parts of storm drains used to collect debris. One worker lifted the lid of a catch basin with a pickaxe so another worker could apply tape to the basin. While the second worker's hand was in the basin, the lid slipped from the pickaxe and crushed that worker's hand.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the workers did not have a direct supervisor and they had not been shown how to do the job before. Instead, they received instructions from a manager and were sent to repair the catch basins alone.
The Corporation of the Town of Pelham was fined $60,000 for failing to provide adequate information and instructionto the workers on how to safely repair the catch basins.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Lena Mills. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Kaizen Your Employees

In Japanese Kaizen means continuous improvement; something we all should strive for. As a business owner or manager you look around your workplace and think of ways things could be better. How often does the thought cross your mind that the same should happen with your employees? It’s very likely that the people you’ve hired hold more potential to be better employees and could be tapping into more of their potential. Previously we’ve written about how to motivate employees and some of the benefits of cross training but these practices won’t just work to motivate your employees. Allowing your employees greater flexibility in terms of what tasks they can perform at work will ultimately lead to a more versatile workforce; illness, injuries and vacations will have less of an impact on productivity and stress levels among employees if people can move into other jobs relatively seamlessly. Next to think about is training. There are all kinds of training programs available, if employees can work better through training advocate for it. Colleges and Universities as well as business help centers will all be able to connect you with the right people to provide training for your employees, customer service is a popular choice. Maybe you’ve seen a motivational speaker or know of one coming to your city soon, invite them to your workplace to speak or provide tickets to your employees to attend an event, it may jump start a new level of commitment or motivation in your workforce.  Your employees are one of your greatest assets and are the most important factor in your businesses success. In the words of one car manufacturer marketing gurus, “Make Things Better”.

Fines and Penalties for failing to protect worker under OHSA

 M & M Painting and Sand Blasting Ltd. Fined $70,000 After Worker Injured

  

May 10, 2012 3:00 PM

Hamilton, ON - M & M Painting and Sand Blasting Ltd., of Cayuga, ON, was fined $70,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.
On May 9, 2010, workers from M & M Painting and Sand Blasting Ltd. were painting structural steel components for a company in Hamilton. A steel sheave was resting on the forks of a forklift while workers spray painted it from below. It was not secured to the forks. A gust of wind blew the sheave, causing it to fall off the forklift and seriously injure a worker.
M & M Painting and Sand Blasting Ltd. was fined $70,000 for failing to ensure thatthe sheave was secured against tipping or falling.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Paul Welsh. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.


HRNC

New Ontario Social Media Reference Check Guidelines

Important information reprinted from Lisa Stam.

Published By
Lisa Stam - Baker & McKenzie LLP

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Lisa Stam

New Ontario Social Media Reference Check Guidelines

Last Thursday, the Ontario Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner released its new guide for online reference checks.  In the face of the recent debates about whether an employer can request personal social media passwords during job interviews, the release of this document is quite timely.
The guideline is entitled, Reference Check:  Is Your Boss Watching?  The New World of Social Media:  Privacy and Your Facebook Profile.  The guideline reviews the various issues around online background checks, and provides a number of suggestions on how a candidate or employee can protect him or herself.
I attended the event last Thursday at which the Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Anne Cavoukian, unveiled the new guideline and discussed the various risks and problems associated with employers asking for social media passwords.  It will be a surprise to no one that she firmly opposes requiring a candidate or employee to provide their personal social media passwords, although her reasoning was based more on privacy principles than legal prohibitions, given the ongoing gap in privacy law for provincially regulated employees in Ontario.
In her speech, Dr. Cavoukian summarized five unintended consequences of requesting and obtaining a candidate or employees' personal social media passwords:

1. Accessing a candidate's personal social media profile may lead to uncontrolled secondary use of personal data, such as data regarding a candidate's friends and family.
2. Once the employer is in the possession of the data, the employer becomes responsible for that data and assumes liability for the privacy issues regarding the data.
3. An employer may lose out on qualified candidates who are deterred from applying for a position because of the employer's practice.
4. Possible loss of reputation of the employer.
5. Costs of legal liability should a claim arise regarding the use of the information gathered during the social media background check.

Most of the consequences are focused on potential risk or reputational damage.  The reality is, given the privacy law gap in Ontario for non-medical employee personal information, any direct legal consequences are more likely to flow from the breach of a workplace policy, collective agreement, or contract (assuming one exists that speaks to the issue of privacy), than any specific law at this point.
I discuss the Ontario privacy law gap in an earlier post here.  Until the landmark Ontario Court of Appeal decision, Jones v Tsige, was released in January, there was no employee recourse, so it will be interesting to see how the new Guidelines will be used by adjudicators as a thought-piece and articulation by the Ontario Privacy Commissioner of what the law should be for Ontario employers.

Tags: Facebook, Privacy, background check, opc

Fines for Violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act - Woodstock Auto Recyclers Ltd.-$60,000. and Welded Tube of Canada LTD - $120,000

Woodstock Auto Recyclers Ltd. Fined $60,000 After Workers Injured

April 26, 2012

Woodstock, ON - Woodstock Auto Recyclers Ltd., a Woodstock automobile wrecking yard, was fined $60,000 for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after three workers were injured.
On November 16, 2010, three workers were inside the company's Woodstock facility. One of the workers was removing a gas tank from a car. The gas tank had not been emptied. Gasoline spilled out of the tank and was ignited by a nearby inspection lamp. A fire started and the emergency exit was blocked, forcing the workers to run to the other end of the building to escape. All three workers received burns and smoke inhalation.
Woodstock Auto Recyclers Ltd. was fined $55,000 for failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker for the safe removal of a gas tank. The company was also fined $5,000 for failing to ensure that emergency exits were free from obstructions.
The fines were imposed by Justice of the Peace Sonia Aleong. In addition to the fines, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Court Information at a Glance
Location:                    Ontario Court of Justice
                                    415 Hunter St.
                                    Woodstock, ON
Judge:                         Justice of the Peace Sonia Aleong
Date of Sentencing:     April 23, 2012
Defendant:                   Woodstock Auto Recyclers Ltd.
Matter:                         Occupational Health and Safety
Conviction:                  Occupational Health and Safety Act , Section 25(2)(a)
                                    Ontario Regulation 851, Section 123(2)
Crown Counsel:           David McCaskill

 

 

Welded Tube of Canada Limited Fined $120,000 After Worker Injured

April 26, 2012

Newmarket, ON - Welded Tube of Canada Limited, a Concord steel manufacturer, was fined $120,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.
On August 19, 2009, a worker at the company's Concord factory was helping to change over part of a mill used to shape steel sheets into tubes. The worker was standing near the back of the mill when a section of the mill was moved into place using a rack and pinion drive system. The worker's leg was pinched between a moving rack and the mill, breaking the worker's leg.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the area of the mill where the worker was standing was not guarded to prevent access to the pinch point between the moving rack and the frame of the mill.
Welded Tube of Canada Limited pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the machinery was guarded to prevent access to its pinch point.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Philip Solomon. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.


Court Information at a Glance
Location:                    Ontario Court of Justice
                                    465 Davis Dr.
                                    Newmarket, ON
Judge:                         Justice of the Peace Philip Solomon
Date of Sentencing:    April 24, 2012
Defendant:                  Welded Tube of Canada Limited
Matter:                        Occupational Health and Safety
Conviction:                 Ontario Regulation 851, Section 25
Crown Counsel:       Daniel Kleiman