Ontario fines Irving Consumer Products $100,000 after worker critically hurt at Toronto plant

Irving Consumer Products Ltd. has been fined $100,000 in Provincial Offences Court in Toronto after a temporary worker was critically injured at its Weston Road workplace. The company pleaded guilty, and the offence occurred on September 13, 2024.

According to the province, a lift truck operator placed a stack of four pulp bales on the stand of a wire-cutting table where the worker was located. The top two bales tipped over and struck the worker. The company was charged under section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure the bales would not tip over.

The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that workers hired after 2019 had not been trained on a safety procedure limiting the table to two bales, and that workers routinely placed up to four bales on it. Justice of the Peace Bentley Springer imposed the fine, and a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge applies as required under the Provincial Offences Act. Crown counsel was Alicia Gordon-Fagan.

Since the incident, the company has redesigned the work area and purchased a new wire chopper. The conviction was announced by the province on October 27, 2026.