A Quebec-based drilling company, Forages Technic-Eau Inc. (also known as Technic-Eau Drillings Inc.), has been fined $60,000 following a workplace injury incident in Ontario. The fine was imposed after a guilty plea in a provincial offences court in Timmins, Ont.
On Feb. 1, 2023, a worker was injured while unloading boxes from an idling crawling carrier parked beside a pickup truck on Highway 101 East in Holtyre, Black River-Matheson. The worker failed to apply the parking brake before exiting the vehicle, inadvertently engaging its control levers, which caused the carrier to move and pin the worker between the two vehicles. The resulting injuries were serious.
Justice of the Peace Estelle Thérese Bérubé handed down the fine on June 27, 2024. Crown Counsel Judy L. Chan represented the prosecution. In addition to the $60,000 fine, the court imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which is allocated to a provincial government fund supporting victims of crime.
The company was found in violation of section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed under section 105(1)(i) of Ontario Regulation 854 were followed. Specifically, the regulation mandates that the parking brake of a crawling carrier must be applied before a worker exits the vehicle.