Worker suffers permanent injury, Mississauga company fined $70,000

(Photo courtesy Google Maps)

A Mississauga company has been convicted and ordered to pay a $70,000 fine after a worker suffered serious injuries when he was pulled into a moving conveyor belt.

According to the Ministry of Labour, a worker was performing maintenance on May 17, 2012, when his hands and arms were drawn into the running conveyor belt. The worker managed to stop the machine and was taken to hospital.

On October 18, 2016, a judge found Matrix Logistics Services committed the offence “of failing as an employer to ensure that an in-running nip hazard that may endanger the safety of a worker was equipped with and guarded with a device that prevents access to the pinch point.”

The company was ordered to pay the victim $70,000 on Tuesday. The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.