A mushroom farm in Leamington has been fined $115,000 after a worker was critically injured in a 2023 incident.
Highline Produce Limited pleaded guilty in court last month after a worker was critically injured operating equipment for which no measures, procedures, guards or other devices where in place to prevent access to a hazard.
A release from the Ministry of Labour said on the day of the July 2023 incident, a worker was assigned to roll and sanitize grow nets using the net washer.
To be removed and reused effectively, nets had to be aligned correctly on the net washer so they did not shift and become entangled in either end of the machine's bar.
Misalignment of the nets was a normal occurrence that required workers to adjust nets with their hands.
The worker was attempting this realignment but became entangled in the net that was threaded on the rotating bar, resulting in a critical injury.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that there were no measures, procedures, guards or other devices in place to prevent workers from becoming entangled when adjusting nets on the machine.
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.
The company was previously issued fines after pleading guilty in two separate 2018 incidents.
A fine of $75,000 was issued after a worker was injured after becoming caught in a moving cable and suffered a critical injury.
Another fine of $90,000 was handed to Highline after a worker suffered critical injuries after being caught and dragged into a conveyor.