(file photo)
An Alberta company has been fined $150,000 after a worker was injured at a job in Chesley two years ago.
A statement published by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development explains Parkland Fuel Corporation pleaded to guilty to a provincial offence.
The Calgary-based fuel and petroleum supplier was fined $150,000 in a provincial offences court in Owen Sound presided over by Justice Julia Morneau and also had a 25 per cent victim surcharge imposed.
According to the Ministry, two Parkland workers were delivering liquid propane to a residential property in Chesley on Nov. 21, 2018 and a nozzle blew off a tank, spraying liquid propane in the air which ignited one of the worker’s clothing on fire.
The worker apparently rolled in snow to extinguish the flames. Emergency services were called. The worker was not wearing eye protection, adequate gloves or fire resistant clothing at the time of the incident, the Ministry says.
“Parkland had ordered appropriate personal protective equipment for the worker on November 2, but it had not arrived at the time of the incident,” a Ministry release explains.
The Ministry of Labour explains the injured worker started working for the company earlier that month.
“The worker had received one day of on-line training in the first week of employment, which included safety-related topics such as transportation of dangerous goods and pre-trip inspection for professional drivers. This was the only formal training the worker had received from Parkland,” a release from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development says.
According to the Ministry, the injured worker had not received the required training under Propane Storage and Handling Code — which covers topics such as the characteristics of propane, sources of ignition, emergency preparedness and procedures for safely transferring propane from a bulk truck to a customer’s container.
The training for the injured worker for that certification was scheduled to take place November 23, 2018, two days after the explosion.
The Ministry release explains Parkland had held off on scheduling the training until several newly-hired workers could be trained together.