GM Canada Fined $275K For St. Catharines Plant Worker Injury

Canadian Occupational Safety reports that the Canadian government has fined GM CA$275,000 following an injury at the GM St. Catharines Propulsion Plant in Ontario. In addition, the automaker was ordered by a court to pay a 25 percent victim fine surcharge credited to a provincial government fund that assists victims of crimes.

The incident in question happened in January 2023. Two GM employees were conducting a “probing routine” inside a CNC machine when they thought it was in safe mode. Unfortunately, they missed a step in putting the machine in safe mode, which requires an interlock door to be open during the process. We reported at the time that the injured worker, a man in his 50s, received “significant” crushing injuries to both his upper and lower body.

“Believing the machine was in safe mode, one of the workers entered the machine through a side panel. After completing the maintenance task, the worker pressed start on a handheld control terminal,” the Ontario government stated. “This caused the machine to enter automatic mode, and the worker was injured when a part of the machine moved.”

Upon reviewing the procedure for putting the CNC machine in safe mode, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development ruled that the directions were unclear in ensuring the machine was in safe mode before performing routine maintenance.

“The company failed, as an employer, to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” the Ontario government said.

GM Canada’s solution is to no longer allow full-body entry inside the CNC machine that caused the incident. As an extra measure to ensure safe maintenance, all probing must now be performed from outside the machine.

The St. Catharines Propulsion Plant has been in operation since 1954 and currently produces engine and transmission components for other GM assembly plants around the globe. Specifically, this Canadian factory produces GM’s fifth-generation Small Block V8 engines and the dual-clutch automatic transmission used in the C8 Corvette.