Calgary company convicted in fatal 2019 workplace incident loses appeal

Bhupinder Singh Ubhi was killed in a workplace incident on Aug. 16, 2019, at Inland Machining Services Ltd. (Supplied)

A Calgary company that appealed its convictions and associated fine for its role in the death of one of its workers has been denied by the court.

On Oct. 26, 2023, Inland Machining Services Ltd. (IMS) was convicted on 13 charges under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act.

The charges were brought about after Bhupinder Singh Ubhi, an IMS employee, was killed on the job on Aug. 16, 2019.

According to an OHS investigation, Ubhi was operating a manual lathe, polishing a workpiece when his clothing was caught in the machinery and he was pulled in.

Eight of the charges IMS was found guilty of were conditionally stayed, but the company was ordered to pay a fine of $420,000 inclusive of a 20 per cent victim fine surcharge as a penalty for the five remaining charges.

IMS appealed its conviction on Nov. 17, 2023, saying the trial judge misunderstood the Crown's burden of proof in the case and combined it with IMS' defence of due diligence.

The company also said the judge's finding of fact were "unsupported by evidence."

In a decision on Nov. 13, the Alberta Court of King's Bench denied the appeal, saying the trial judge found the piece of equipment Ubhi was working on was "inherently dangerous' and Inland lacked a number of safety precautions that could "reduce or eliminate the risk of death for its employees."

"The trial judge held that there was nothing in the testimony of any IMS witness that established due diligence on a balance of probabilities," the court said.

"Instead, IMS' evidence showed a system that left workers to their own devices, and a failure to implement any system whatsoever that might have showed due diligence. These findings were readily available to the trial judge based on IMS' own testimony."

IMS neglected safety protocol in death: court

During the trial, IMS was accused of failing to ensure its manual lathes would safely perform the work for which they were designed. The company said all its manual lathes were not defective and were "operating safely."

The Court of King's Bench said the issue has nothing to do with any defect in the equipment.

"It is that the manual lathes were not operating safely because IMS did not implement any engineering controls to ensure the safety of its workers while using the manual lathes," the court said.

"In fact, IMS removed the manufacturer's safeguards."

The court said the company had an obligation to provide those safeguards, which included a requirement for its employees to wear personal protective equipment while using a manual lathe.

"IMS failed to ensure that Mr. Ubhi was wearing proper PPE, which in this case would have been no gloves, and short sleeves," the court said.

"IMS' submissions continue to reflect exactly what the trial judge found in her sentencing decision, which is while IMS is genuinely sorry for Mr. Ubhi's death, it has no insight into its role in his death."