Guelph company fined after worker injured by pool noodle machine

Alcot Plastics’ production facility on Malcolm Road in Guelph is seen in July, 2023. (Google Maps)

A Guelph plastics manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured on the job last year.

Alcot Plastics Ltd. has been handed a $65,000 fine and a supervisor has received a $3,000 fine for violations to the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The judge who heard the case also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, the Province of Ontario said in a news release.

The incident happened at Alcot Plastics’ production facility on Malcolm Road on March 17, 2022.

Workers were stationed on a production line making pool noodles. A machine at the end of the line would cut the noodles to the right length before workers packed them into boxes.

The province said the machine would frequently become jammed and the supervisor would enter the area between it and another machine to cut the noodle to remove the jammed product.

However on the day in question, a different worker entered the area between the machines and lifted the cutter machine’s hinged cover.

The device that was supposed to stop the machine if the cover was lifted didn’t work and the employee reached into the running machine and was hurt.

Their injuries were not specified.

The province said by failing to prevent access to a section of the machine where body parts could get caught, the company violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act.