A methane explosion that killed a worker at a southern Ontario chicken processing plant in 2006 led to a $150,000 fine for the company Monday.
Sure Fresh Foods of Bradford pled guilty Monday in the Ontario Court of Justice in nearby Barrie to charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The April 7, 2006 explosion occurred when a worker went into an emptied 80,000-litre water tank to repair a crack and ignited a welding torch. The worker suffered third-degree burns and died in hospital.
According to a provincial labour ministry release Monday, investigators found that clear, odourless, naturally-occurring methane gas had likely entered the tank in the water drawn from the company’s well.
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The investigators found that the company had no written procedures for a confined-space entry, nor did it have the testing equipment needed to monitor the air quality inside the tank before the work could begin.
“As a result, the worker had not been provided with appropriate confined space entry training,” the province wrote.
The company was charged with failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect health and safety.
Farm safety and workplace safety groups have in recent years campaigned to warn farmers and agribusiness workers about the hazards in confined spaces including tanks, empty wells, bins, manure pits and silos.
Such campaigns focus not only on the risks of working in areas with potentially higher than normal levels of toxic or flammable gases, but on the risks posed by moving parts or materials inside a tight working space, as well as the difficulty in getting an injured person out of such a space.
