Gwillimdale Farms Ltd. has been fined $125,000 following a fatal workplace incident that occurred in 2022, where a worker was killed while lubricating machinery at the company’s vegetable processing facility.
The company, located on Line 11 in Bradford, pleaded guilty to charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in Barrie’s Provincial Offences Court. The incident took place on Aug. 30, 2022, when a trainee was fatally injured while performing maintenance on the facility’s Potato Line, which is a complex system used for washing, grading, and packaging vegetables.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the equipment’s uptake conveyor lacked adequate guarding, exposing workers to a pinch point hazard.
An investigation by the ministry revealed that Gwillimdale Farms Ltd. failed to ensure that the necessary safety measures prescribed by Ontario Regulation 851 were in place, as required by the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Justice of the Peace Richard R. Therrien imposed the fine, alongside a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which will be allocated to a government fund for victims of crime.
In a statement, the ministry confirmed that “Gwillimdale Farms Ltd. failed, as an employer, to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 25 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments were carried out in the workplace.” The company has since implemented several safety improvements, including additional guarding on equipment and conducting third-party assessments of its guarding strategies.