Fatal Shock in Greenhouse Results in $120,000 Fine for Southwest Employer

Convicted: Great Lakes Greenhouses Inc., Leamington, Ontario, a grower of cucumbers.

Location of Workplace: A production greenhouse located near 834 Mersea Road 4 in Leamington.

Description of Offence: A worker received a fatal electrical shock while working at a greenhouse facility. The electricity had not been properly locked out as required by law.

Date of Offences: November 19, 2018.

Date of Conviction: October 16, 2020.

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea, Great Lakes Greenhouse Inc. was fined $120,000 in provincial offences court in Windsor by Justice of the Peace Susan Hoffman; Crown Counsel Mike Nicol.
• 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.

Background:

• Workers were adding to an existing production greenhouse located near 834 Mersea Road 4 in Leamington.
• A worker was re-arranging wiring and doing breaker work as well as connecting wires to an electrical panel located in an electrical room.
• While completing the job, the worker was working with a wire containing 600 volts of power.
• The worker received an electrical shock that was fatal.
• The subsequent Ministry of Labour inspection found that at the time of the incident, the power to the wires on which the worker had contact were not locked-out as required by Regulation 213/91 (the Construction Projects Regulation).
• Great Lakes committed the offence of failing to comply with section 183 of the regulation, contrary to section 23(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act; that is, for failing to ensure that the electrical equipment in the area of the project was locked-out when the worker was performing work with the electrical equipment