News Pits & Quarries Safety
Unsafe rigging, critical injury at Ontario quarry leads to $60,000 fine

JOSEPH ISLAND, Ont. – After pleading guilty in provincial offenses court last month Bernt Gilbertson Enterprise Limited, operating as Richards Landing-based Gilbertson Enterprises, has received a $60,000 fine and 25 per cent victim surcharge for a 2021 incident where a worker suffered critical injuries at a quarry north of Wawa, Ont.

Convicted nearly two years after the May 15, 2021 incident, the Ontario Ministry of Labour says a worker at the Medhurst Creek quarry, known as the Fungus Creek Pit, was injured while maintenance work was being performed on a portable cone crusher.

According to an investigation, the incident occurred when a 3,700-. motor for a portable cone crusher fell after being lifted by chain slings and a hook, with the investigation deeming this rigging inappropriate. The motor had been lifted for a pair of workers to perform a drive belt replacement.

The investigation concluded that the chain slings used to elevate the motor were not properly labelled with the maximum loading capacity or working load limit, as required by the Occupational Health & Safety Act, and Gilbertson failed to take necessary precautions to ensure the worker’s safety.