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Resolute fined for 2012 mill accident

Resolute Forest Products has been fined $55,000 after a worker was injured at its Fort Frances paper mill in 2012. The company pleaded guilty in a Provincial Offences Court in Fort Frances, July 25.

Resolute Forest Products has been fined $55,000 after a worker was injured at its Fort Frances paper mill in 2012.

The company pleaded guilty in a Provincial Offences Court in Fort Frances, July 25.

Justice of the Peace Tom Logan heard that on November 29, 2012, three workers were in the paper mill located and were moving a 44,000-pound, 22-foot-long stack roll to a paper machine. The workers used two forklifts to place the stack roll onto a designated cart to bring it into the mill; once inside, another forklift was hooked to the front of the cart using a sling. One worker operated the forklift pulling the cart while two others walked along the cart to guide it. To pass through a hallway about eight feet wide, it was necessary for the two workers to manually push and pull on the stack roll. On one side was a concrete wall and on the other was a set of steps and a steel column.

As the cart moved forward, a wheel hit the column, causing the stack roll to move and pinch the arm of one of the workers who had been pushing on the roll. The worker suffered a crushed arm and wrist.

The Ministry of Labour’s investigation concluded that Resolute failed as an employer to ensure that a stack roll was moved in such a way and with such precautions as to ensure that the moving the roll did not endanger the safety of the worker.

In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.