KITCHENER, Ont. – A mid-sized food-processing firm has been fined $55,000, plus the standard victim fine surcharge, for an employee’s serious injury last June 1. A court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) stated that a worker with Sunwest Food Processors Ltd. in Waterloo had been using a “former” machine to cut up meat that day, when it became evident that some of the meat had not been fully processed. The employee reached into the machine’s hopper, but the machine had not been locked out, and its rotor became activated and injured the worker with one of its steel blades. The MOL investigation deemed that the employer had violated Subsection 25(1)(c) of the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act by not ensuring that a motion that could injure a worker was stopped before a machine was adjusted, cleaned or repaired. Justice of the Peace Adriana Magoulas ordered Sunwest to pay the fine at the Ontario Court of Justice in Kitchener on May 1.