Company Sentenced in St. John’s Provincial Court

Service NL announced today that Steelfab Industries Ltd. was sentenced in St. John’s Provincial Court on Friday, July 26, upon pleading guilty to two violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Charges were laid in November 2012 following an investigation carried out by the Occupational Health and Safety Division.

The incident occurred at the company facility at St. Anne’s Crescent in Paradise and involved a worker who was assigned to paint a fabricated trailer. The positioning hook used to lift and hold the trailer in place broke, resulting in the trailer striking the worker and knocking him to the ground. The victim suffered a number of soft tissue injuries and a wound to his head and he has not returned to work.

The company pleaded guilty to the charges of failing to ensure a hook had a safety latch and failing to ensure the manufacturer or a professional engineer had determined the working load limit of a fitting (the positioning hook).

Steelfab Industries has been ordered to pay fines of $7,500 for each of the two charges, as well as make a $2,000 contribution for the purpose of public education to the Minister of Service NL for a total of $17,000 in penalties. Four other charges were withdrawn.

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Media contact:
Vanessa Colman-Sadd
Director of Communications
Service NL
709-729-4860, 682-6593
vanessacolmansadd@gov.nl.ca

2013 07 31                                        12:25 p.m.