Toronto: The death of a worker has resulted in $130,000 fine for Torrent Shotcrete Canada of Toronto.
A residential building was under construction when a worker was killed after falling into the hopper of a concrete pumper on January 16, 2017.
Following a guilty plea, the company was fined $130,000 on July 9.
The application of shotcrete involves the pumping of concrete from a hopper through a pressurised hose for the coverage of surfaces. At the time of the incident, shotcrete was being applied to the excavated walls of the construction project.
At the end of any given pumping period, it was necessary to clean the hopper so that residual concrete would not harden.
The worker was in the process of cleaning out the hopper at the end of the work day using a power chisel. The worker fell into the hopper with the concrete auger running and was killed. There was no eyewitness to the incident and it is unknown how the worker fell into the hopper.
On the top of the involved hopper was a grate that prevented access to the auger. The hopper was equipped by the manufacturer with a sensor that would stop the movement of the auger upon the opening of the grate. The sensor would allow power to the auger as long as it was in contact with a metal piece that was attached to the grate.
Investigation by the Ministry of Labour revealed that the sensor on the hopper in question had been rendered inoperative by a metal washer that had been taped onto it, which would cause the sensor to allow power to the auger even when the grate was open. It had the same effect as the contact of the sensor with the grate when the grate was closed.
Investigation further revealed that wiring for the sensor had been altered so as to falsely indicate that the safety grate was closed, thereby allowing uninterrupted power to the auger when the grate was open, even had the sensor not been disabled by the taped washer.