The incident occurred at the company’s facility in Thamesford, Ontario, on Sept. 4, 2015, according to a court bulletin posted to the Ontario provincial government website. The court also imposed a 25 percent victim fine surcharge, which is used for a special provincial government to assist victims of crime.
The incident occurred when a Maple Leaf employee was asked to load a Genie GR-12 one-person lift onto a truck using an electric forklift. The employee raised the Genie and drove toward the deck.
“When the fork truck was passing between the power loading dock and the deck, the truck moved away from the power loading dock and travelled down the concrete ramp outside of the dock,” according to the court bulletin. “The truck then struck a low concrete wall and stopped. The cab of the truck was unattended.”
The fork truck, the Genie and the Maple Leaf employee fell from the power loading dock to the ground. The worker suffered unspecified injuries.
“During a subsequent inspection by the Ministry of Labour, it was learned that no one placed blocks at the wheels of the truck to prevent movement and no one from Maple Leaf asked or ensured that the wheels of the truck were blocked as needed,” according to the court bulletin.
“The employer should have ensured that the Genie was transported in such a way that it would not tip, collapse or fall.”
In September, Maple Leaf Foods was fined C$120,000 after a worker was injured when a chicken combo struck the worker’s arm, causing injuries.
($1 US = $1.25 Canadian)
