Newmarket, ON – Honta Trading International Inc., a Markham handbag importer, was fined $70,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.
On November 28, 2011, at the company’s Markham warehouse, a temporary worker was offloading pallets full of goods from a truck and placing them along the edge of a racking system. Meanwhile, on the other side of the racking system, a second worker was using a forklift to put pallets full of goods on the shelves. As the second worker was removing a previously placed pallet from a shelf, the pallet teetered and fell off the back of the racking system onto the first worker.
Honta Trading International Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the pallet was removed from the storage rack in a way that did not endanger the safety of a worker.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Grainne Forrest. In addition to the fine, 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.