Ontario Construction News staff writer
One worker at a limestone quarry in Bobcaygeon died and another was critically injured after a workplace collision in May, 2022.
In a statement last Thursday, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration. Training and Skills Development said Buckhorn Sand and Gravel Inc. was fined $200,000 after pleading guilty in Provincial Offences court on April 15.
The workers were trying to start a fuel truck used in quarry operations when the truck’s rear access platform got lodged on flat rock in the refueling area, preventing it from being able to drive off.
The statement said a service truck was on hand to pull the fuel truck off the rock using a chain. One worker crawled under the front driver’s side axle of the fuel truck to attach the chain while the other worker helped attach it to the service truck.
The fuel truck was able to move forward, but it fatally injured one worker and critically injured another.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found the air system in the fuel truck inflated, which caused the rear platform to rise and the truck to no longer be lodged on the rock.
Investigators also found no one was in the cab of the truck at the time of the collision, and the brakes were not engaged.
Buckhorn Sand and Gravel also received a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.