A Hensall, Ont.-based manufacturing company has been fined $60,000 after a worker was critically injured while using a table saw without required safety equipment.
General Coach Canada, a company that manufactures and assembles park model and house trailers, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the saw was equipped with a protective guard, a violation of Ontario Regulation 851/90 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The incident occurred on April 20, 2023, at the company’s facility on Mill Street in Hensall.
The worker was cutting a piece of melamine when the missing protective shield allowed the saw blade to make critical contact, according to a Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation. The ministry found that the absence of a guard and riving knife breached the company’s legal obligation to implement prescribed safety measures.
Justice of the Peace Karl McNamara handed down the penalty on October 15, 2024, in the Provincial Offences Court in Goderich. The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which is directed to a provincial fund that supports victims of crime. Crown counsel for the case was Katie Krafchick.
In response to the incident, General Coach Canada has since installed the required safety shield and riving knife on the table saw, the ministry said.
