DRAYTON – A county farm is facing a steep fine following a critical injury to an employee who was working at the business’s recycling and reclaiming factory.
A provincial court bulletin stated Marvara Farms Ltd. on 6th Line in Drayton pled guilty on Nov. 15, 2024 and will be fined $175,000 due to a worker’s injuries from falling from equipment and into an operating cardboard bale hopper.
The bulletin said on the date of the offence, Jan. 10, 2023, workers were on an elevated platform separating recycling products onto various conveyors when cardboard packaging was caught on two pipes.
A worker moved on to the equipment and attempted to clear the jam using a stick and ended up standing with one foot on a gearbox and the other on a pulley guard.
The worker then slipped and fell into a 70-inch-deep baler hopper while it was running and was “critically injured.”
“A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation revealed the cause of the incident was that all hazardous motion was not prevented before attempting to unjam the cardboard above the baler hopper,” the bulletin said.
“The cardboard baler was still running. This allowed the compacting ram to move forward while the worker was inside the hopper.”
The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required under the Provincial Offences Act.
