Brampton, Ont. bottle manufacturer fined after worker injured by glass machine
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
The worker suffered crush and burn injuries after reaching a hand into a machine that forms bottles using gobs of molten glass
BRAMPTON, Ont.—Bottle manufacturing firm O-I Canada Corp. has been fined $100,000 after a worker was permanently injured by a glass machine at its Brampton, Ont. plant.
The incident involved a pair of employees in the company’s bottle forming department who were working on a machine that produces 100 bottles a minute by forming molten gobs of 1,200 C glass.
According to the Ministry of Labour, a machine operator and a worker were inspecting and changing the machine’s neck rings and plungers—a routine task—when the worker lost sight of one of the rings.
After asking the operator to close the mold, the worker reached into the machine to retrieve the ring. With the work’s hand still in the mold, however, the mold shifted back to the open position, pinching the worker’s hand between the mold and a shaft. It held it there for several minutes before another employee was able to use a switch to freeze the mold in the closed position.
The province said the worker sustained “critical” crush and burn injuries that required surgery and resulted in permanent injury.
An investigation found the bottle manufacturer violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act by failing to ensure the machine’s control switches were locked out.
The company pleaded guilty to the workplace violation in a Brampton courtroom this week.
