Jones Feed Mill pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a fine of
$100,000 after an employee died at work at the plant at Heidelberg, about 20
kilometres northwest of Kitchener-Waterloo.
Lindsay Whyte, 68, died after he
fell and hit his head in February, 2013, while using a pry bar to unplug a
machine used to make horse feed pellets
Although there were no witnesses,
Kitchener court was told Whyte may have been standing on the pry bar — as he
had done before — to exert enough force to move the required parts.
The procedure was outlined in a
written policy at the facility, one of three owned by the family business.
It was at odds, however, with
instructions provided by the manufacturer of the pellet machine, which
recommended a more complicated and time-consuming process involving compressed
air.
The company and owner Jeffrey
Jones each pleaded guilty to one count involving a failure to properly train
employees.
The fines, jointly recommended by
defence and prosecution lawyers, took into account the company's previously
clean record and steps it has since taken to improve safety.
Jones has since spent $160,000 on
new equipment and improvements to existing machinery and has hired a full-time
health and safety co-ordinator.
