03.02.2009

Company fined $175,000 for fatal collapse

Port Weller Dry Docks has been fined C$175,000 after the company, an arm of Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering, pleaded guilty to failing to maintain a crane that collapsed in March 13th 2007, killing the operator.

The 44 metre high Clyde crane was lifting a 119 tonne steel slab, when it buckled, burying its operator, Michael Damiano, 55, in the rubble. It took three days for his body to be recovered.
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The charge, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, relates to a Martin Decker load radius indicator that had not been regularly tested. Ministry of Labour officials said they didn't know if indicator was working properly at the time of the collapse because of the extensive wreckage.

The crane had a maximum capacity of 120 tonnes at 30 metres radius and had reportedly been re-certified shortly before the accident.