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Ontario logging company fined $80K for forestry worker’s death

Kapuskasing, Ont.-based D&G Logging Ltd. has been fined $80,000 for the death of a forestry worker in early 2018.

According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, an operator working for the small logging company was killed when the boom of a de-limbing machine released.

On Jan. 15, 2018, the employee was working on a Quadco de-limber in the Big Pic Forest, north of Wawa, Ont. The worker was trying to repair a leak on the hydraulic cylinder of the machine’s boom, which was mounted on a Cat excavator.

According to the bulletin, the boom was suspended, but not blocked or otherwise immobilized to prevent it from moving once the machine was taken out of service. The employee was positioned over the base of the machine and under the boom, in order to reach the hydraulic hose from the back of the cylinder.

While removing the hose from the cylinder, the pressure holding the boom in an elevated position quickly released, causing the boom to drop, pinning the worker between the boom and the machine’s cab. The worker later died of his injuries.

D & G Logging Ltd. plead guilty, and was convicted of failing as an employer to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 75 of Ontario Regulation 851 (the Industrial Establishments Regulation), contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company must also pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.