National Steel Car fined $360K for Hamilton worker's death, another critically injured in 2022
CBC
National Steel Car has been ordered to pay over $360,000 in fines after the death of one worker and the critical injury of another — both in 2022.
The Hamilton-based company pleaded guilty in both cases for not upholding safe working conditions at its Kenilworth Avenue plant, said a court bulletin from the labour ministry published Wednesday.
Welder Quoc Le, 51, died on June 6, 2022, after being crushed by a 2,000-pound panel.
Leading up to Le's death, workers were welding bulkhead panels to the floor of the railcar, said the bulletin. The panels were held by a set of chains attached to a crane.
One of those chain links "unexpectedly broke" causing the panel to tip and fall onto Le, the ministry said.
If National Steel Car had followed Ontario regulations, it would've required workers to secure the panel to diagonal alignment bars to prevent it from falling during welding, said the ministry.
However, this requirement was not in the company's standard operating procedure, the ministry said.
National Steel Car was fined $240,000 for Le's death and has since updated its policy.
The union representing National Steel Car workers was disappointed the Crown did not push for a harsher penalty, but instead made a "deal" with National Steel Car, said Frank Crowder, local president of United Steel Workers Local 7135.
"To large companies like these, such a small amount [in fines] becomes the cost of doing business," said Crowder in a statement. "Corporations can't be allowed to simply pay a fine whenever a worker is killed."
Le was among three workers killed at the plant over 21 months due to unsafe working conditions.
Collin Grayley died on April 23, 2021 and Fraser Cowan died on Sept. 2, 2020. National Steel Car was fined $140,000 for each of those deaths.
"When a worker is killed in the workplace, the deceased is not the only victim," Crowder said.
"There is a family that is devastated from losing a loved one, personal friends affected from the loss and coworkers still in shock years later. There is a psychological impact that can be crippling to everyone involved."
Before a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s northwest coast can be built, there's another box that needs to be checked: a massive investment in carbon capture and storage in central Alberta.
Jeremy Tunraluk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), is on leave from his position after he was charged with assault.
The head of Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission says the independent body should stop organizing post-debate news conferences and will make changes to how it decides what leaders to invite after this spring's leadership debate was surrounded by controversy.
The Alberta Health Services CEO who took over after a controversial firing in January is now himself off the job.
Standing inside her non-profit managed rental unit in central Windsor, Ont., Sue Pare points to a crack in her kitchen floor she can’t get fixed.
Five people were sent to hospital, including one person with life-threatening injuries, after a fire broke out at a fraternity house near Western University prompting a police investigation.
A rusting and derelict ship that’s been looming large over the waterfront in Springdale for years will soon be removed and disposed of by the federal government.
Greater Sudbury taxpayers will be paying 3.9 per cent more in property taxes in 2026.
When it comes to wintry weather, the Maritimes has certainly dipped a toe into the water with this week's chilly temperatures and snow.
N.B. Power is warning that the U.S. company it hired to build and run a billion-dollar gas plant could walk away in April — a move that would set the project back years, and possibly lead to power shortages in the province.
After Serge Belloncik suffered a stroke in 2022, he developed aphasia, a communication disorder affecting his ability to speak.
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation says its annual Winterfest celebration has been cancelled for 2026, with the southwestern Manitoba First Nation's newly elected chief saying there was not enough time or funding to plan the four-day festival.
Amid a housing crisis, Saskatoon is poised to add more than 200 new apartment units near the downtown early next year.