Dare Foods has been fined $67,500 after one of its workers was injured while trying to clean a conveyor.
The incident happened on March 1, 2016 at the snack food company’s Kitchener plant on Kingsway Drive.
The employee was assigned to clean cookie crumbs from overhead conveyors and stainless-steel belt rollers, which were located almost ten feet above the floor.
Using a mobile ladder platform, the employee wiped down the rollers and conveyor belt using a cloth similar to a paper towel. That’s when they were pulled into the “nip hazard”, resulting in a fracture.
The employee, who had been hired less than six weeks earlier, was working without a trainer for the first time that day.
Dare Foods was charged under section 25 of Ontario’s Industrial Establishments Regulation. It states that a “nip hazard or any part of a machine, device or thing that may endanger the safety of any worker shall be equipped with… a guard or other device that prevents access to the pinch point.”
The company pleaded guilty and was fined $67,500 on Friday.
