Ministry probes death at Fiera affiliate
Temp worker was pinned between a tractor-trailer and bakery loading dock
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is investigating another death of a temporary help agency worker at a company affiliated with Fiera Foods, the industrial bakery in North York that was the subject of a 2017 Toronto Star investigation.
The worker in his 40s was killed Thursday night when he was pinned between a tractor trailer and the loading dock for Upper Crust, which is part of a group of companies run by Fiera owners Boris Serebryany and Alex Garber.
Police and paramedics were called to 55 Canarctic Dr. — near Keele St. and Steeles Ave. W. — at 9:49 p.m. Efforts to save the man’s life were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
This is the fourth death of a temp agency worker at Fiera or its affiliated companies since 1999.
In a statement Friday, Carmela Serebryany, president of Upper Crust and daughter of Fiera founder Boris Serebryany, said the company is reviewing the accident “in full co-operation with police, the coroner’s office, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of Labour.”
“We are deeply and profoundly saddened by this sudden loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family and loved ones,” she said. The man, who has not been identified, was hired through a temp agency called OL and Partners, the Star has learned.
“The death of any worker, in any circumstance, is a tragedy,” said Lana Ostrovsky on behalf of the agency. “We offer our deepest condolences of the worker’s family and loved ones. We will be co-operating with the Ministry of Transportation and all other relevant authorities to understand the accident.”
The Ministry of Labour said it was notified on Thursday night of the fatality at Upper Crust.
“It was reported that a worker was struck by a reversing truck, however no details have been confirmed at this time,” said spokesperson Janet Deline.
The ministry issued one requirement to the company not to disturb the scene. Deline said the investigation is ongoing.
Ministry investigators were at the Canarctic Dr. factory all day. At the loading dock, police tape was affixed to the rear of a Fiera Foods transport truck.
At a nearby payday lender, where Upper Crust and Fiera temp agency employees pick up their wages, workers from the factory said they had heard what happened but didn’t know the worker who died.
Last year, Fiera pleaded guilty and was fined $300,000 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for the death of 23year-old temp worker Amina Diaby, who was strangled when her headscarf became entangled in a machine that was not adequately guarded.
A Workplace Safety and Insurance Board investigation into the incident, obtained by the Star through a Freedom of Information request, showed that an employee working with Diaby at the time of her death did not know how to use the machine’s emergency stop buttons so was unable to save her when she became entrapped.
Fiera’s guilty plea followed a yearlong Star investigation into the rise of temp work in Ontario, during which a reporter worked undercover at one of Fiera’s factories for a month. Our reporter, who was hired through a temp agency, like most of Fiera’s workers, received about five minutes of safety training, no hands-on instruction and was paid in cash at a payday lender without any documentation or deductions.
Data obtained by the Star as part of its investigation showed that temp agency workers in Ontario are increasingly being placed in non-clerical environments like factories and warehouses, and that they are twice as likely to get hurt in these sectors as their non-temp counterparts.
Following the investigation, Fiera committed to an internal audit and review of its health and safety practices.
“We take health and safety very seriously at our company,” David Gelbloom, Fiera’s general counsel, told the Star after the guilty plea in Diaby’s death. “It is a top priority for us. We have to do better, and we will do better.” Gelbloom said then that the company was going to do “everything that we can to make sure something like (what happened to Diaby) doesn’t happen again.”
In 2011, 69-year-old temp worker Aydin Kazimov was crushed to death by a transport truck outside Marmora Freezing Corp., another Fiera-affiliated company whose facility is connected to Fiera’s main factory. In an agreed statement of facts read aloud at the sentencing for the driver of the transport truck, the judge said: “Although employees had requested reflective gear from their employer, Fiera Food Company did not equip their security guards with reflective gear until after this incident.”
A Ministry of Labour investigation found there was inadequate lighting, warning signs and protective barriers to keep Kazimov safe.
In 1999, 17-year-old temp worker Ivan Golyashov was killed at Fiera’s Norelco Dr. plant when a dough mixer was activated while he was inside cleaning it. A lawsuit filed by the teen’s family — eventually settled out of court — accused the company of not providing sufficient training to its workers and also for failing to ensure machine controls were “locked out” while someone was inside.
Fiera and Marmora were convicted in both cases and fined $150,000 on each occasion.
Chris Buckley, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, called news of the latest death “absolutely disgusting.”
“This is an example of why workers’ rights are so important in the province of Ontario,” he said.
Last year, the Liberal government passed significant new protections for temp agency workers, including the right to be paid at the same rate as permanent counterparts for doing the same job. New measures also made both the temp agency and their client companies accountable at the workers’ compensation board when temps get injured, which advocates called a key incentive to keep workers safe on the job.
This week, the Progressive Conservative government introduced new legislation, Bill 47, that would roll back many of the labour protections, including equal pay for equal work. The Ministry of Labour has not said whether new provisions for temp injuries will remain intact. “The Changing Workplace Review, which was a three-year province-wide public consultation undertaken by independent advisers and informed by academic research, concluded that Ontario must improve labour laws and step up enforcement to protect workers in this province,” said Pam Frache, provincial co-ordinator of the $15 and Fairness campaign.