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.

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