Workplace Fatality Results in $125,000 Fine for Toronto Waste Transfer Facility

December 20, 2022

Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development

Convicted: York1 Millwick Transfer Limited, an owner/operator of a waste transfer facility.

Location of Workplace: 48 Millwick Drive, Toronto, Ontario

Description of Offence: On January 19, 2021, a worker was struck and fatally injured by a reversing truck in the outdoor yard of York1 Millwick Transfer Limited’s waste transfer facility. York1 Millwick Transfer Limited failed, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 56 of Ontario Regulation 851 (Industrial Establishments) were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: January 19, 2021

Date of Conviction: December 8, 2022

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice, Old City Hall, Toronto, York1 Millwick Transfer Limited was fined $125,000 by Justice Rick Libman; Crown Counsel Shantanu Roy.
• 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:

• The process and operation of York1 Millwick Transfer Limited’s waste transfer facility yard is for vehicles to be weighed on entry. Once vehicles have been weighed, they travel to the maintenance building and park in front of roll up doors, where drivers prepare vehicles for dumping by removing tarps and retracting the waste bins to the edge of the roll off truck rails. Drivers then reverse towards the tipping floor – a designated area outside of the waste building where waste material is dumped on the floor. Once the material is dumped, drivers drive forward from the tipping floor to the maintenance building, where they secure their bins and then drive to the exit scale to be weighed prior to leaving. There are no limits to the number of vehicles permitted in the yard at any given time.
• General labourers/pickers employed by York1 Millwick Transfer Limited move around on foot and sort through dumped material by hand prior to the material being pushed into the waste building. Items collected are placed in nearby bins. Pickers on occasion give non-verbal indication to drivers from across the yard. Active signalling of a driver does not occur.
• On January 19, 2021, there were no defined procedures established for traffic control in the yard at 48 Millwick Drive. A picker was struck and fatally injured by a reversing truck. The driver of the truck did not have a full view of the intended path of the vehicle, and there was no signaller to provide direction at the time of the incident.
• York1 Millwick Transfer Limited failed, as an employer, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 56 of Ontario Regulation 851 (Industrial Establishments) were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Section 56 of Ontario Regulation 851 states:
  • Where the operator of a vehicle, mobile equipment, crane or similar material handling equipment does not have a full view of the intended path of travel of the vehicle, mobile equipment, crane or similar material handling equipment or its load, the vehicle, mobile equipment, crane or similar material handling equipment shall only be operated as directed by a signaller who is a competent person and who is stationed,
    • (a) in full view of the operator;
    • (b) with a full view of the intended path of travel of the vehicle, mobile equipment, crane or similar material handling equipment and its load; and
    • (c) clear of the intended path of travel of the vehicle, mobile equipment, crane or similar material handling equipment and its load.