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Ontario company fined $50,000 for injured crane operator

FIO Automotive Canada Corporation (FIO) was fined $50,000 after a worker suffered a critical injury when a 1,500-pound feed bar was knocked out of its support cradle and struck the worker who was operating the crane.

The trainee was assisting the worker by disconnecting clamps holding the press die on the bolster.

Following a guilty plea in provincial offences court in Stratford, Ont., FIO was also ordered to pay a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, to be credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The incident happened on Oct. 8, 2020, at the company’s large industrial facility for manufacturing automotive parts. The worker was operating an overheard crane to lift a press die off a bolster plate to move it to storage.

As the worker began to lift the die with the crane, he did not notice one of the clamps had not been removed. The clamp eventually disconnected under pressure of the crane, causing the die to swing in the air, impacting the bolster’s feed bar.

The feed bar – weighing approximately 1,500-pounds – was dislodged from its position, knocking the worker to the floor. The worker was critically injured.

Following an investigation, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development found that the feed bar holder would not securely retain the feed bar if struck by the die swinging in the way it did. It also found that there had been similar instances in the past where dies, being lifted off bolsters, swung and contacted a feed bar, bumping it out of position but remaining in the cradle.