A common but improper method of clearing up a plugged machine led to the death of a 68-year-old worker at a Heidelberg-area feed mill, a Kitchener court heard Monday.
Lindsay Whyte was operating a pellet mill at Heidelberg Mill on Lobsinger Line in February 2013 when he was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
Court documents show that the mill became plugged with “horse feed” pellets.
Standard practice to get the machine running again involved shutting it off and, if other measures weren’t effective, use a 50-pound pry bar and physical force to drive the mill’s belt in reverse, dislodging the jam.
Exactly what happened in this case isn’t clear as there were no witnesses, the documents show, but Whyte’s coworkers soon heard a “loud crash”.
When they went to investigate, they found Whyte suffering from a significant head wound.
He was “barely conscious” by the time paramedics arrived, and was pronounced dead in hospital.
It is believed Whyte attempted to either push or stand on the pry bar and slipped off, striking his head as he fell.
The pry bar process, while common practice at local feed mills, is nowhere to be found in the operating manual for the mill, which says jams should be cleared with compressed air after the operator opens the machine’s doors.
Pleading guilty to breaching federal safety regulations, Jones Feed Mill was fined $90,000, while owner Jeffery Jones was fined $10,000.
Speaking outside court, wife Marsha Pidgeon called Whyte “a wonderful man” and said she didn’t see a fine at any level as enough “to make a difference.”
More positively, Pidgeon said she was glad to see that the mill had been in touch with other local mills to warn them about the consequences of similar actions.
“They have got in touch with other mills and said ‘OK, this is what happened, this is what we’ve done and you need to do so it doesn’t happen to you.’ I think that’s community responsibility,” she said.
Since Whyte’s death, Jones Feed Mill has spent approximately $160,000 to improve safety at its Heidelberg mill.
