Farm Boy fined $90,000 following workplace injury at Orleans warehouse

An Ontario judge has fined the Farm Boy grocery chain $90,000 following a workplace accident last year.

According to a bulletin from the Ministry of Labour, the incident happened June 1, 2021. Two workers were dismantling a walk-in cooler at a warehouse facility on St. Joseph Boulevard when one worker, who was unscrewing metal plates attached to the roof panel, fell about three metres when the roof collapsed.

The employee, who was not wearing fall protection, had used a scissor lift to step on top of the freezer to unscrew the panels. The worker hit the concrete floor and was injured.

“Although the employer had a written fall protection policy and provided workers with fall protection equipment and the worker had received general working at heights training, the employer did not provide them with site-specific working at heights training. Further, no information or instruction was provided to the worker with respect to how to safely dismantle the cooler,” the ministry said.

Farm Boy, which is owned by Empire Company Ltd., the parent company of Sobeys, pleaded guilty in court and was fined. 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.

CTV News Ottawa has reached out to Farm Boy for comment.