WorkSafe BC has authorized Dinoflex Group to restart limited operations for some machinery in their Salmon Arm Industrial Park plant following the death of an employee on Aug. 28.
On Sept. 5, the employer was ordered to cease all use of any of the recycled rubber processing machinery including rubber block cutters, a laser guided water cutter, rubber compound blender and mixer units, and a rubber block handling unit.
This was later modified to allow for the use of a slicer, paper press, tile press, tile mixer and paver mixer.
The stop-use order has also been lifted for the water cutter for a limited interim basis to fabricate 18-panel specialty cuts for a trade show, subject to a series of guidelines.
“The remaining equipment at this facility is still subject to the initial stop-use order… and remains in effect until evidence of compliance has been received and is verified by an officer of the board,” says the WorkSafe BC report.
Additional compliance action to protect worker safety is ongoing and is expected to be completed this week.
Shane Mackenzie Gorner, 19, died after getting caught in machinery at the manufacturing plant.
The initial WorkSafe BC inspection report states: “This employer has not ensured that machinery and equipment at this rubber recycling facility is fitted with adequate safeguards which protect a worker from contact with hazardous power transmission parts, ensure that a worker cannot access a hazardous point of operation, and/or safely contain any material ejected by the work process which could be hazardous to a worker.”
In earlier correspondence with the Observer, Dinoflex Group CEO Mark Bunz said the company is committed to the safety of all its employees. The company has enlisted the services of an industrial engineering and design company specializing in safeguarding to assist in complying with the WorkSafe BC orders.