WINNIPEG – Two Manitoba businesses have been fined a total of nearly $70,000 after safety violations resulted in serious injuries to employees’ hands.
The heaviest penalty was $50,050 in fines and surcharges handed to Norbert’s Manufacturing after a worker instructed to remove a safety guard from a piece of equipment subsequently suffered partial amputation of four fingers.
The worker was trimming aluminum step covers with a hydraulic shear in the rural municipality of South Cypress on April 3, 2012, Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health said in a news release.
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The worker was told to remove a guard that would have prevented contact with the shear’s blade. Four of the employee’s fingers were partially amputated when the worker’s left hand touched the blade.
The employer pleaded guilty Oct. 20 to failing to ensure the worker was adequately trained to operate the hydraulic shear safely while trimming the step covers.
The other penalty was handed to Rakowski Cartage and Wrecking after a worker’s left hand was seriously cut when it contacted the feeding rolls of a wire stripper.
The worker was feeding copper wire into the wire stripper when the incident happened.
The employer pleaded guilty Oct. 22 to failing to ensure the safety, health and welfare of the worker by not having safeguards in place on the wire stripper machine and failing to adequately supervise workers.
Rakowski Cartage and Wrecking was handed $18,800 in fines and surcharges.
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