Printer fined after worker injured while cleaning press

BRAMPTON, Ont. — A printing company has been fined tens of thousands of dollars after one of its workers was seriously injured at a plant in Brampton, Ont.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development says Imprimeries Transcontinental pleaded guilty today to breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with the August 2018 incident.

It says the company was fined $60,000 plus a victim surcharge for failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker with regards to safely operating a printing press.

The ministry says the worker suffered critical injuries after being pulled into the machine while trying to troubleshoot an issue.

It says the press should have been “locked out,” a process that locks the controls for powering the drive shaft and all energy is dispersed to prevent it from starting accidentally.

The ministry says its investigation found the worker had not been trained on the risks associated with not safely locking out the press machine.

The incident began because another worker noticed flyers were not coming out of the press in an orderly manner, the ministry said.

That worker tried to fix the problem by turning off the power to the drive shaft and removing a fixed guard placed over the area where the chain meets the drive shaft, it said.

Eventually that worker decided to go call maintenance and told others not to touch the press, the ministry said.

A second worker nonetheless decided to try to fix the issue by cleaning the chain, and turned on the power to the driver shaft, it said.

The drive shaft didn’t start so the worker continued to clean the chain, it said. Eventually it did start and the worker was hurt.