Bruce Power fined $110,000 after injured-worker case resolved in Owen Sound court

Bruce Power has been fined $110,000, after a Feb. 1, 2016, worker-injury case was resolved in Owen Sound provincial court, Wednesday.

In a statement, John Peevers of Bruce Power communications, said, "The most important thing we do at Bruce Power is to make sure everyone arrives home safely at the end of their shift. In this case, despite risk assessments, a pre-job briefing and safety meeting, a risk in a process was not sufficiently identified to Bruce Power, and the company did not, in turn, inform its workers."

The company has since done a full reassessment of its safety practices related to this type of work and made a number of improvements to ensure this type of injury never happens again, said Peevers. "This stands as an important reminder that safety is about people and we must remain vigilant and look out for each other, especially when hazards are present."

He said Bruce Power will pay the $110,000 monetary penalty plus a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge related to the incident, which resulted in burns to a worker when gas was ignited while he was performing maintenance work in the turbine hall on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

The worker was treated for burns and, fortunately, was able to return to work in May, 2016, and was back on full duties after a period of accommodation while he recovered, said Peevers.