GUELPH WM. Sharpe Farms Limited at Guelph has been ordered to pay $60,000 after its owners pled guilty to a charge of negligence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act on Dec. 19. On April 29, 2013, a teenaged worker lost part of his leg when he was cleaning and emptying the remaining corn in a grain bin. As he was leaving the bin through an access hatch, his foot was caught in a powered screw auger, which was located directly below the access hatch, into which corn emptied. WM. Sharpe Farms Limited a fertilizer tower, elevator and feed store was charged for failing to take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances by failing to ensure that the powered screw auger was guarded, said a Ministry of Labour communications spokesperson. The company was fined $48,000, plus a $12,000 victim fine surcharge, which goes to a provincial government fund to assist victims of crime. |