Cement Manufacturer Fined $475,000 After Worker Fatality at Bowmanville Plant

Convicted: St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada), 55 Industrial Street, Toronto, Ontario, a cement manufacturer

Location of Workplace: Cement plant at 410 Bowmanville Avenue, Bowmanville, Ontario

Description of Offence: St. Marys Cement failed, as a constructor, to ensure blocking was installed to prevent the movement of equipment during repair work, contrary to section 108 of Ontario Regulation 213/91 and section 23(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: March 21, 2023

Date of Conviction: September 14, 2026

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice in Oshawa, St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada) was fined $475,000 by Justice Liana Marcon; Crown Counsel were Shantanu Shankar Roy and Alexsis Qi.
• The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background:

• Each year, St. Mary’s Cement shuts down its Bowmanville plant for annual inspections, maintenance and repairs on its equipment. During the shutdown, the workplace becomes a construction project under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. During its annual shutdown in 2023, the company hired Trade-Mark Industrial Inc. as a subcontractor on the project. 
• On the day of the incident, a young worker employed by Trade-Mark Industrial as an industrial mechanic millwright apprentice was working on an overburden hopper used to move quarry material for cement production. The hopper contained a gate that controlled the flow of material through the system.  
• The worker entered the hopper to perform maintenance work. While the worker was inside, a planned power shutdown occurred elsewhere at the project for electrical work. The shutdown caused the gate inside the hopper to close, fatally injuring the worker.
• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that blocking had not been installed to prevent the gate in the hopper from moving during maintenance work.
• Section 108 of Ontario Regulation 213/91 (Construction Projects) requires blocking to be installed to prevent the collapse or movement of equipment being dismantled, altered or repaired if its collapse or movement may endanger a worker. By failing to ensure this measure was carried out on the project, St. Marys Cement contravened section 23(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.