Canada | Toronto manufacturing company fined $90,000 for worker safety offence

April 17, 2025

Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development | Following a trial in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, Siltech Corporation has been fined $90,000 over a September 2021 incident.

It was found that the company failed, as an employer, to ensure containers were bonded and grounded as required by section 22(4)(b) of Ontario regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The Court heard how, on 8 September 2021, two workers were transferring flammable liquid from a large container into two smaller metal pails. While they were filling the second pail, an explosion occurred, injuring one of the workers and fatally injuring the other.

Section 22(4)(b) of Ontario regulation 851 requires containers and dispensing equipment to be bonded and grounded when flammable liquid is dispensed. This prevents static electricity that could ignite the vapours and cause an explosion.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the workers had used a plastic hand pump to transfer the liquid. Plastic cannot be bonded or grounded. The investigation found that the metal pails were also not grounded or bonded to the other equipment in the setup.

Though it remains unproven that the cause of the explosion was static electricity, Siltech Corporation still failed, as an employer, to ensure the pails and pump were bonded and grounded as required by as required by section 22(4)(b) of Ontario regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

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