The City of Greater Sudbury has been fined $150,000 after a 40-year-old municipal employee was fatally injured at the Levack public works depot in 2022.
Details of the series of events that led to the worker’s death were outlined in a court bulletin released this week.
After attending a City of Greater Sudbury worker appreciation breakfast on May 6, 2022, a worker was advised by their supervisor to get a ride back to the Levack public works depot and then they could go home – their workday was done.
However, the worker informed their co-worker, who dropped the worker off, that they intended to remove the sand from the Wille municipal tractor unit that was stored in the Levack Depot.
The Wille unit was equipped with a rear-mounted sand spreader attachment with a spinning auger to distribute sand on the sidewalk as it traveled.
The worker was fatally injured when they became entangled in the machinery at the unguarded opening of the sand hopper that was attached to the Wille tractor, while the auger inside the sand hopper was powered on.
There were no witnesses to the incident.
The Corporation of the City of Greater Sudbury was accused of failing, as an employer, to ensure that where a machine has an exposed moving part that may endanger the safety of any worker, it is equipped with, and guarded by, a device that prevents access to the moving part, as prescribed by section 24 of Ontario Regulation 851, and contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The city pleaded guilty to the offence in the Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury, and on July 19 was fined $150,000 by Judge Julie Lefebvre. Crown Counsel was David McCaskill.
The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
A statement issued by the City of Greater Sudbury in 2022 said the municipality is “heart-broken by this tragic loss. Our deepest sympathies are with the family, friends, and all those who knew and worked with the employee. Our immediate focus is on supporting the staff members closest to this employee."
At the request of the family, the employee's name and any identifying information was not released by the city in 2022.
In Ontario, when a worker dies in the workplace, a public inquest is mandatory. Such an inquest has not yet been announced.
