Ontario-based firm Sofina Foods Inc must put the penalty costs toward a workplace training programme after the worker died in 92C heat. An additional 25 workplace safety charges have been withdrawn.

A commercial food processing firm that pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of one of its employees who became trapped in a smokehouse and later died from his injuries has been ordered to pay CA$330,000 towards a workplace training programme, according to a Canadian Press report.

Nepalese national Samir Subedi, who was a superintendent at the firm’s Edmonton facility, had gone inside the gas-fired smokehouse to monitor the drying process of the meat products that had been loaded the previous night, when the incident happened on 2 March 2023.

Although Ontario-based commercial food processor Sofina Foods Inc had comprehensive safety protocols, an agreed statement of facts from the Crown prosecutor and the business noted that it had failed to follow through on these protocols. This included a failure to provide proper training to Subedi on how to operate the smokehouse door stopper.

A Crown prosecution investigation undertaken under Alberta’s workplace safety laws found that the emergency handle inside the unit was broken having repeatedly been sheared off by meat carts moving in and out. A makeshift door stopper on the outside had recently been installed, but this had to be activated from the outside before an employee entered the smokehouse.

However, Subedi had not been properly trained on how to use this backstop.

When a co-worker found the Nepalese national unresponsive on the floor inside the doors of the smokehouse, the temperature reading from a meat probe had soared to 92°C

Significantly, Canadian Occupational Safety reported that the company’s engineering team had not approved the door stopper.

According to the CBC’s coverage, prosecutor Hendrik Kruger told the sentencing hearing that the level of negligence was at the high end.

‘The Crown would not hesitate in describing that as a gross level of negligence,’ he said.

Defence lawyer Loretta Bouwmeester said the food processor accepted that workplace hazards around the smokehouse weren’t adequately controlled. When a co-worker found the Nepalese national unresponsive on the floor inside the doors of the smokehouse, the temperature reading from a meat probe had soared to 92°C. The Edmonton employee later died in hospital as a result of complications of the thermal burns he sustained.

Sentencing earlier this month, Justice Michèle Collinson told the court that she needed to hand down a significant penalty to match the gravity of what happened, but added, ‘there is no amount of money, or any sentence, that can up for the loss of life.’

However, she also said that the decision to order Sofina Foods Inc to pay CA$330,000 towards a workplace training programme – after a joint submission from the Crown prosecution and the firm – reflected some mitigating factors, including the commercial food processor’s early guilty plea which demonstrated remorse.

The Crown withdrew the remaining 25 workplace safety charges brought.

The court also heard that Sofina Foods Inc had taken quick action to resolve safety risks identified in the investigation, such as the emergency door handle on the smokehouse.

Justice Collinson told the court, which was attended by several executives from Sofina Foods Inc, who had travelled from Ontario, that prior to the Crown prosecution bringing charges, the commercial food processor had paid the mortgage for the victim’s family and extended their health and dental coverage.

In addition, it had spent CA$500,000, not accounting for taxes, to help the family.

Despite these mitigating factors, however, Justice Collinson noted that the incident was easily preventable and had led to an immeasurable loss to Subedi’s family, friends and community.

‘The loss has ended not just his dreams, but the dreams of his wife, and his brother who had come to Canada from Nepal in hopes of a better life,’ she said.

Subedi’s widow, Bhumika Bhattarai was pregnant at the time of his death and is now a mother of a two-year-old and a three-year-old.

The CBC reported that the firm fully co-operated with the occupational health and safety investigation and since the fatality has increased staffing in its engineering and health and safety departments.

The funding for the workplace safety training ordered by the court will be managed by the Alberta Food Processors Association and will be tailored to the food sector. Sofina Foods Inc has said that it has installed a memorial bench in Subedi’s honour at its Edmonton facility.

Source: IOSH Magazine

Comment: "The failure to report damages to safety-critical equipment, inadequate training, personnel not adhering to safety protocols, and the lack of company training plans for ongoing education are concerning. These issues should have been reviewed regularly, and if the organisation was unable to do so, it should have sought professional advice."