LEAMINGTON — An Essex County mushroom farm was fined $93,750 last month, after a moving cable caught and critically injured a worker last year.
Highline Produce Ltd. of Leamington was convicted, almost a year to the day of the accident, of failing to take reasonable precautions to protect workers. The company pleaded guilty.
At the time of the accident, workers were using a hydraulic winch to pull netting over mushroom grow beds. While guiding the hydraulic cables into the winch, one worker was caught and pulled into the winch, and critically injured. In Ontario law, an injury is critical if it: Is potentially fatal; knocks you unconscious; causes substantial blood loss; fractures an arm or leg; amputates an arm, leg, hand or foot; causes burns to a significant amount of the body; or causes loss of sight in an eye.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the winch did not have an attached guard, which would have been a reasonable precaution to protect workers.
