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Convicted: American Iron & Metal Company Inc., 9100 Henri-Bourassa E, Montreal, Quebec H1E 2S4, a company that recycles scrap metal.

Location of Workplace: A scrap metal yard at 75 Steel City Court in Hamilton, Ontario.

Description of Offence: A worker was injured while unloading a dump trailer. The company failed to provide information, instruction and supervision to the worker on how to safely unload the trailer.

Date of Offence: December 1, 2021

Date of Conviction: May 18, 2023

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Hamilton, Ontario, the company was fined $65,000 by Justice of the Peace Robert G. Munro. Crown Counsel was Madeleine Chin-Yee.
• The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background:

• On December 10, 2021, a driver employed by American Iron & Metal Company Inc. was transferring loads of scrap metal to a shredding pile at the company’s scrap metal yard using a 40-foot dump trailer.
• The driver was unloading the dump trailer from behind. After opening one of the rear doors, the driver opened the other rear door part way. The driver then moved to the inside of the door to open it the rest of the way. While the driver was inside the door, part of the load began to fall from the trailer, injuring the driver.
• The driver had been employed by the company since 2020 but had only recently started driving and unloading the dump trailer and was still being trained on the company’s procedures for its use.
• The company’s procedure for opening and unloading trailer rear doors is for the driver to stand outside the trailer door and use it to shield themselves from scrap metal that may fall when the door is opened. Information, instruction and supervision on this procedure had not yet been provided to the worker at the time of the incident.
• American Iron & Metal Company Inc. violated Section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker on the safe procedure for unloading the 40-foot dump trailer.

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