Evraz fined $322,000 after worker injured at Regina plant

Evraz North America was fined $322,000 after an employee was injured in an incident at the Regina steel plant on Feb. 7, 2018.

The company pleaded guilty to contravening one count of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, that an employer failed to ensure an effective safeguard where a worker may contact a dangerous moving part of a machine, remaining in place at all times, resulting in a serious injury to a worker.

The company was fined $230,000 plus a surcharge of $92,000. One other charge was withdrawn.

Charges stemmed from an incident that occurred in Regina on Feb. 7, 2018. According to a media release, a worker sustained a number of injuries after stepping on to a turn roll motor.

In March 2019, the steel manufacturer pleaded guilty to a charge under the Saskatchewan Employment Act pertaining to the 2017 injury of an electrical arc furnace operator, admitting it hadn’t provided a safe means for workers to access a “pit” area. The worker suffered a ruptured tendon.

Just three months later, Evraz North America was ordered to pay a further $126,000 for a separate worker injury case.

Evraz has been the site of a range of other serious workplace injuries since that incident. At least two such incidents left workers with significant injuries, and in one case reportedly led to the loss of a man’s arm.

The company was ordered to pay $60,000 in fines and surcharges in March 2012 after a 39-yearold maintenance employee was seriously injured in 2009. In that case, the worker was caught in the motor driveshaft of a crane hoist.