$50,000 Fine For TS Accident.

[Richard in Smithville]

A worker lost three fingers to a table saw in a cabinet shop accident back in 2009.


http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/A...aspx?e=3108518

[scmhogg]

That's less than $17,000 CDN per finger.

Steve

[sweensdv]

So the employer and a supervisor were fined for failure to ensure compliance......... That sounds to me like the person who lost the fingers was really the one at fault here. Wonder why he/she wasn't also fined? It may not be the case in this instance but far to often it's a careless employee that is actually the one responsible for getting themselves hurt.

[BobSch]

So being stupid enough to stick your fingers into a spinning blade is worth 50K? Unless the company was encouraging unsafe behavior it sounds to me like the wrong person got gigged.

[herb fellows]

The article says a blade guard was not in place. I guess you can debate whose fault that was, but it seems as if the courts decided it was the fault of the company and the supervisor.
Should he refuse to work in an unsafe condition? Maybe, but it's rarely that simple.

[cabinetman]

So the employer and a supervisor were fined for failure to ensure compliance......... That sounds to me like the person who lost the fingers was really the one at fault here. Wonder why he/she wasn't also fined? It may not be the case in this instance but far to often it's a careless employee that is actually the one responsible for getting themselves hurt.

+1. My thoughts exactly. A $50K fine could bankrupt a small company. Maybe if the employee knew he would be fined for an "accident", he might have paid closer attention to what he was doing.

They were at fault for not providing the safety devices, but the employee stuck his finger in the blade. I could tell of a few incidents in my shop that the system was sympathetic to the employee. Personally I show the sympathy, and as off the wall as it sounds, hearing the excuses for the "accident" doesn't add any credibility to the fact that because the guard was off, it was the saw's fault.

.

[Richard in Smithville]

In Canadian law, a worker can be fined for unsafe actions. I imagine in this case, the loss of three fingers was enough. Although the workers actions were at fault, the company and supervisors are ultimately responsible to ensure that an employee works in a safe manor.


But in Canada, they realize that the company who made the saw is not responsible for careless actions( little dig here).

[pelligrini]

Loosing 3 fingers was probably deemed payment enough.

I see this decision a lot more fair and just than the Osario case. An employer should be held accountable for equipment and safety. The short article doesn't exactly state if there was a guard in the shop or not. It just says there wasn't a guard on the saw.