Cambridge company fined $80K for worker injury

(CTV News file image)

A Cambridge company has been handed an $80,000 fine after a worker was hurt at a job site in Whitby.

Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. had been contracted to do maintenance work at Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation three years ago.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, a section of pipe fell while one of the workers was installing a furnace.

“The company failed, as an employer, to ensure that every part of the project, including a temporary structure, was adequately braced to prevent any movement that could affect the pipe’s stability or cause its failure or collapse,” a news release said.

According to the ministry, a supervisor told a worker to install a butterfly valve on a horizontal cooling pipe. The pipefitter then told the foreman the bolts available were not the right ones, but the foreman told them to use them anyway until the proper bolts could be brought in.

Another crew was tasked with switching and repositioning two pipe skids that were attached to the other end of the cooling pipe. A chain was set up to support the north side of the pipe, but the south side was only held up by the incorrect bolts. When the pipe was moved, it fell onto the worker.

On March 3, Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. pleaded guilty and was fined $80,000.