Loblaws fined $80,000 in London after customer struck by falling forklift load

A major Canadian supermarket chain is facing a hefty fine.

Loblaws Inc. has been fined $80,000 after pleading guilty in the case of a customer being injured after products fell from a moving forklift.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development said in a statement Friday that the incident took place on April 3, 2018, at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 825 Oxford St. E. in London.

According to the statement, a customer walking to the store’s entrance was injured by products that fell from a moving forklift driven by a Loblaws worker.

The worker was transporting the products from the garden centre to display outside the entrance of the store.

The statement says the “worker/forklift operator was required to travel on the defendant’s property along the driveway between the parking lot and the store to reach the main entrance area.”

The product being transported was 90 25-litre bags of topsoil, stacked just over four feet in height, four feet long and 40 inches wide.

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According to the statement, the incident happened when the customer walked from the parking lot diagonally across the driveway towards the main entrance.

The forklift operator was driving towards the main entrance with the pallet raised around 10 to 12 inches from the ground.

The operator spotted the customer and stopped abruptly, but the load slid off the pallet and struck and injured the customer.

Details regarding the customer’s injuries have not been released.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour concluded that those who enter and leave the store were in an area where they could be endangered by the movement of the forklift.

It was concluded that the forklift was “in proper working condition and excessive speed was not an issue,” nor was the operators view obstructed by the load.

The statement says there were no barriers or warning signs in place along the driveway to protect workers or customers from the movement of the forklift.

While pedestrian crosswalk was painted on the driveway, there were insufficient safeguards “to ensure the protection of workers (or customers) while a forklift was being operated on the driveway during store hours,” the ministry said.

Loblaws pleaded guilty in provincial offences court on Thursday to a charge of failing to comply with section 25(1)(c) of the Ontario Health and Safety Act, requiring “barriers, warning signs or other safeguards for the protection of all workers in an area where vehicle or pedestrian traffic may endanger the safety of any worker,” according to the ministry.

On top of a $80,000 fine, the court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which is required by the Provincial Offences Act.