Bandag employee injured in Sept. 2024
Provincial Bandag Tire Ltd. in Woodstock was fined $9,600 in provincial court on Nov. 4 after a tire technician suffered multiple fractures to his face in a workplace accident at the facility last year.
The company pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure a safety cage and other safety devices were engaged during a tire repair at the facility on Sept. 12, 2024.
Crown Prosecutor Louis Plourde explained the employee was replacing an inner tube in a large military style tire when the lock ring on the three-piece rim flew off and struck him in the face. The worker was transported to hospital in Saint John for treatment of his injuries and returned to work several weeks later.
Judge Karen Lee told the court the accident occurred due to “a lapse in judgment” by the employee who disengaged a safety device and then tapped on the rim during the repair. At the same time, she stated that the employer should have ensured that safety measures were being followed at the facility.
“The risk of a tire exploding under pressure is a known safety risk,” Judge Lee said. “The employee was lucky to have avoided a brain injury or death.”
Woodstock manager Victor Walker told the court that the local tire shop had maintained a clean safety record for 20 years and that safety equipment was available for its eight employees to use during their work.
Judge Lee ruled the accident was a second offence under the Act for Provincial Bandag Tire Ltd. due to a fatality at the company’s facility in Edmundston a few months earlier in 2024. The company was fined $30,000 for the death, which was caused by a large tire falling on an employee.
