The Sunrise Health Region has received $95,000 in fines in response to Occupational Safety and Health violations, including one that resulted in serious injuries to an employee. The fines were issued in Yorkton Provincial Court on Monday, October 20.
The most serious happened in May of 2015, when an employee in the laundry department’s arm was caught in a conveyor as she and another employee attempted to free a bag caught in the system. The employee’s arm was pulled into the conveyor, and it took 30 minutes to free her from it, and at one point in the process she lost consciousness. She received crushing injuries and fractures, which required surgery and a side plate and screws. Sunrise received a fine of $50,000 for the incident.
The second incident involved an electrically operated food cart. An employee moving the food cart was
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moving it when the doors on the cart opened while the door behind the employee shut. She was caught between the cart and the doors and panicked, not releasing the controls. The emergency stop on the cart was moved to the top, contrary to the original manufacturer’s design, and the employee was found to not have enough training. The fine in this case was $30,000.
The final two incidents were the results of spills of formalin, one due to a seal failing when a bottle was placed on its side in a lab, and the other when a handle broke on a bucket. In both cases, the spill was not cleaned properly, and one employee reported a headache. It was found that employees did not have enough training for handling of the chemical and spill kits were outdated and defective. The fine for this incident was $7,500 per spill, for a total of $15,000.
The lawyer for the Sunrise Health Region noted that in response to the incidents, the region has spent an estimated $421,000 in an attempt to prevent similar incidents in the future. This included decommissioning the conveyor involved in the incident, increased training for employees, and updating chemical spill kits through the region. He also noted that the region paid for transportation for the employee injured in the conveyor.
