Ajax meat processing plant fined $82,500 for worker injuries

A meat processing plant in Ajax has pleaded guilty and fined $82,500 for two separate incidents in which workers suffered hand injuries. D & S Meat Products Ltd., operating as Elite Meats, operates a facility at 220 Clements Road in Ajax.

An Ontario government note said that on May 26, 2014, a worker was assigned the task of loading frozen blocks of meat into a grinder machine. One block was too frozen to be drawn into the grinder machine by the rotating feedscrew. When the worker pushed down on the block of meat, the meat suddenly moved and the worker’s hand was pulled down into the hopper toward the feedscrew. As a result the worker suffered a partial amputation.

A Ministry of Labour investigation determined that the grinder machine was not equipped with a guard to prevent access to the rotating feedscrew at the time of the incident. As such, D & S failed as an employer to ensure the grinder machine’s exposed moving part was equipped with aa guard, contrary to Ontario’s Industrial Establishments Regulation and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

On July 7, 2015, a worker at the facility attempted to replace a plug underneath a corkscrew conveyor attached to a meat grinder machine. The corkscrew conveyor was not stopped, turned off or locked out at the time.