Sepracor Canada Ltd has been arraigned in Windsor, Nova Scotia provincial court on  five charges stemming from the death of an employee in 2008, and will be required to enter a plea this coming September.

The charges stem from an incident that caused the death of worker Roland Daigle on Oct. 7, 2008, roughly 18 hours after the quality-control technician had been exposed to vapours from the chemical trimethylsilyl diazomomethane while conducting testing at his workstation at the Sepracor plant in Windsor.

Last month, the Department of Labour charged Sepracor with failure to ensure adequate personal protection equipment was in place in Daigle’s work area; failure to ensure that an adequate venting system was in place; failure to ensure the employee was instructed in the safe use and handling of hazardous chemicals; and failure to ensure that no person would disturb the scene of an accident after it occurred.

All of the above charges were brought under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.

In October 2009 Sepracor, which is based in Massachusetts, was sold to a Japanese company, but it still operates the plant in Windsor, as well as plants in Ontario and New Jersey.

Members of Daigle’s family attended court for the arraignment. They were pleased that the charges were brought, and hope they will lead to improved safety procedures at labs across North America.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety officials and the office of the medical examiner have been ordered to investigate the death of a 74-year-old worker who died last week after being crushed by a section of wall at a small manufacturing business in Red Willow.

The wall was being erected at The Wood Shop, a business located in Red Willow, a hamlet north of Stettler. The worker was helping some other employees move a wooden truck-bed liner. The liner bumped into the wall of a shed and the wall collapsed and fell on him.

Co-workers had been trained in first aid, so they assisted the man on site, including the administration of CPR. He was then treated by paramedics and air-lifted to hospital in Edmonton, where he died.

According to RCMP, no criminal investigation into the incident is planned. The man’s name has not been released, pending notification to next of kin.

WOODSTOCK, ON, July 16 /CNW/ – TDS Automotive Canada, Inc., a Mississauga-based company, was fined $60,000 in the Ontario Court of Justice on July 10, 2008 after pleading guilty in the case of an incident in which a worker was injured.

The incident took place in March 2007 at an automotive warehouse in Tillsonburg operated by TDS Automotive Canada, Inc. The injury occurred when an employee was assisting a co-worker in removing a battery from a forklift. The worker had a finger caught within the lifting device that was removing the

battery. The injury resulted in the amputation of one the worker’s finger’s at the middle knuckle.

After an investigation by the Ministry of Labour it was found that the hooks of the battery lifting device were modified from the manufacturer’s design. The “stem” of the hooks were shortened and created a pinch point that resulted in the injury.

The company plead guilty to a violation of section 51 (1) (a) of Ontario Regulation 851 which states that, “a lifting device be so constructed, of such strength and be equipped with suitable ropes, chains, slings and other fittings so as to adequately ensure the safety of all workers.”

In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per cent victim fine surcharge on the total, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The

surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.