Turkey breeding operation fined

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

by SUSAN MANN

A Strathroy turkey breeding operation was fined more than $65,000 earlier this month for a provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act violation after one of its workers was seriously hurt falling through a second-floor opening in a poultry barn.

Cuddy Farms Limited 2008 pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring workers were protected by guardrails or grates, the Ministry of Labour says in a press release. Justice of the Peace Jamie Shortt, of the Ontario Court of Justice in London, handed down the $65,000 fine plus 25 per cent victim surcharge during sentencing July 6.

The worker was injured Sept. 29, 2010 while cleaning out a poultry barn in Melbourne. The worker fell though one of the second-floor chutes that were normally covered with grates and plywood inserts. The protective coverings had been removed from the chutes to facilitate cleaning.

Ministry spokesman Matt Blajer says from January 2010 to now there were 10 Occupational Health and Safety Act violations involving farms and their fines totaled $472,500. Blajer says the violations involving farms and the fines weren’t broken down by year. BF