
Saskatchewan steel firm fined $60,000 after maintenance worker injured

April 24, 2012
By MRO Magazine
Regina, SK -- Evraz Regina Steel has pleaded guilty to one count under Saskatchewan’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $60,000. The fine is the largest for an OHS violation in the 2011-12 year in the province.
Regina, SK — Evraz Regina Steel has pleaded guilty to one count under Saskatchewan’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $60,000. The fine is the largest for an OHS violation in the 2011-12 year in the province.
The company, formerly known as IPSCO, is a mini-mill recycling steel scrap and producing plate and coil, which is then converted into energy tubular products. It is a subsidiary of Chicago-based Evraz Inc. NA.
The company was charged after a January 20, 2009, incident at its Regina plant in which a worker, Walter Mishak, was seriously injured when he became entangled in the motor drive shaft of a crane hoist he was repairing.
Evraz pleaded guilty to failure to ensure there was an effective safeguard in place to prevent workers from contacting a dangerous moving part of a machine.
Another charge against the company — for the failure to ensure a machine is locked out prior to maintenance and repair — was stayed in Regina Provincial Court.
OHS conducts about 4,500 worksite inspections annually to ensure standards are balanced, known and enforced.
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Good afternoon,
My name is Aaron Laughlin, I work for the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) local 2038 in Regina, Saskatchewan as their education and training coordinator.
Today someone sent me a link to one of your posts (160,000.00 fine for an Ontario Arc Flash incident), and after reading it I decided to peruse the rest of your posts. One in particular caught my eye as it reflected on an incident in Saskatchewan (Evraz).
In the article regarding Evraz, you relate a number (4500) and conclude that the Saskatchewan OHS division makes approximately that many site visits per annum (or at least in 2012).
Could you provide me with the specifics or a contact name for where this information came from?
Regards,
Aaron Laughlin
This news item was based on a release published by the Saskatchewan government. The original document is here: http://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2012/april/04/evraz-regina-steel-fined-60000-for-safety-violation. It includes the statistic about the 4,500 annual site visits.
Bill Roebuck, Editor