General Motors Canada fined $275k following St. Catharines workplace injury

Automotive manufacturer General Motors Canada has been fined $275,000 following a workplace injury at their St. Catharines plant.

A worker was injured Jan. 24, 2023, while performing routine maintenance inside a large automated manufacturing device known as a computer numerical control (CNC) machine.

A report by the Ontario government states that the machine moved after the worker entered to perform maintenance, putting the worker in danger.

The machine is controlled by pre-programmed software. Using the company’s Controlled Access Procedure (CAP), the workers attempted to put the machine in safe mode but did not follow the procedure requiring an interlock door to be open. As a result, the machine was not put in safe mode.

Under the false assumption the machine was in safe mode, the worker entered the machine, completed the maintenance, and pressed start. The machine began to operate and injured the worker.

The statement adds that as an employer, the company failed to take every precaution to protect the worker – a violation of section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development launched an investigation and found that the CAP procedure did not explicitly identify how a worker was to ensure the CNC machine was in safe mode.

General Motors Canada has since revised its procedures allowing workers to completely enter into the CMC machine. All maintenance and probing is now required to be performed outside of the machine.

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