OHS compliance orders issued against metal company where employee crushed his arm

October 8, 2010 Christina Catenacci Health and Safety, Human Resources

Police say a large piece of sheet metal fell on a worker at Cherubini Metal Works Wednesday. (CBC) Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/09/23/ns-workplace-injury-recovery.html

I recently read an article about how the Nova Scotia Department of Labour issued seven compliance orders against a metal works company in the province after a 24-year-old worker was seriously hurt.

The man was welding a 22-tonne piece of steel plate that was part of a girder for a bridge when a huge sheet that was held in place by jigs fell on the man and crushed his arm. Apparently, one or more of the jigs failed.

Investigations began by both the department of labour and the police.

Initial reports were saying that the injuries were life-threatening. But after emergency surgery, the worker was stable and recovering.

The department’s compliance orders require the company to:

Cease using the jigs until they have been inspected by an engineer
Produce design documents and inspection reports for the jigs
Produce a list of witnesses to the accident
Reveal the injured man’s employment history

Interestingly, there were changes against this company in 2003, after metal plates fell on a different worker.

Time will tell as to what is found regarding the safety of the jigs, and whether proper safety procedures were followed in order to prevent injury…we will keep you posted.

Christina Catenacci
First Reference Human Resources and Compliance Editor

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Christina Catenacci

Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, was called to the Ontario Bar in 2002 and has since been a member of the Ontario Bar Association. Christina worked as an editor with First Reference between February 2005 and August 2015, working on publications including The Human Resources Advisor (Ontario, Western and Atlantic editions), HRinfodesk discussing topics in Labour and Employment Law. Christina has decided to pursue a PhD at the University of Western Ontario beginning in the fall of 2015. Read more

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