Waterloo company fined for workplace injury dating back to 2023
Posted Apr 18, 2025 06:00:00 AM.
Last Updated Apr 21, 2025 11:15:16 AM.
A Waterloo company is facing a hefty fine following a workplace injury from 2023.
A court bulletin says Valley Blades Limited in Waterloo has been fined $65,000 by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development after one of its workers had their hand caught when using a multi-drill.
On Oct. 5, 2023, the worker was operating the drill when they attempted to clear off metal shavings built up on the machine table while it was still running. The bulletin said the worker got their rubber glove and loose sleeve “entangled with the swarf and pulled toward the drill.”
The company pleaded guilty and was convicted in a Kitchener court in January.
The ministry said the company failed to “ensure that jewellery, loose or dangling clothing or rings were not worn near any rotating shaft, spindle, gear, belt or other source of entanglement, as required by section 83(2) of Ontario Regulation 851/90, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”
The company also has to pay a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which is put into a fund to help victims of crime.
