Kitchener, ON – 2236697 Ontario Inc., carrying on business as Delta Truck Equipment, a truck maintenance company, was fined $100,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was killed. Phillip Hutton, a supervisor, was fined $15,000 in relation to the same incident.
On June 9, 2010, at the company’s shop in Breslau, ON, Mr. Hutton was doing maintenance on a hydraulic crane. He had mounted the crane onto a truck and determined that some of the hydraulic fluid in the crane needed to be drained. As he went to drain the fluid, a worker monitored the fluid level. During this procedure, the crane’s boom swung around to pin the worker against the truck’s control panel, fatally crushing the worker.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that Mr. Hutton had left the hydraulics of the crane engaged and the truck’s engine running during the procedure.
2236697 Ontario Inc., carrying on business as Delta Truck Equipment, pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that the truck’s engine was off and/or the hydraulics of the crane were disengaged before draining the hydraulic fluid. Phillip Hutton pleaded guilty to the same.
The fines were imposed by Justice Gary Hearn. In addition to the fines, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.