Workplace Fatality Results in $200,000 Fine for Sault Ste. Marie Company

Convicted: Algoma Steel Inc., 105 West St., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; a primary steel producer.

Location of Workplace: The company’s 105 West St. plant.

Description of Offence: A contracted worker was fatally injured after entering an oxygen-deficient pipeline at the company’s steel plant. The company failed, as an employer, to ensure that the confined space was secured against unauthorized entry or that adequate warning signs were provided, contrary to section 17 of Ontario Regulation 632/05, Confined Spaces, and section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: June 15, 2023

Date of Conviction: September 1, 2026

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Court of Justice in Sault Ste. Marie, Algoma Steel Inc. was fined $200,000 by Justice Matthew Raymond Caputo; Crown Counsel was David McCaskill.

• 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:

• On June 15, 2023, contracted workers were cleaning a 36-inch coke oven gas pipeline at the company’s Sault Ste. Marie plant during a scheduled shutdown.

• Prior to the work, Algoma Steel Inc. purged the pipeline with nitrogen to remove flammable gases. This process also removed oxygen from the pipeline, making it unsafe for workers to enter without appropriate confined space safety measures.

• Algoma Steel Inc. had retained GFL Environmental Services Inc., a specialized industrial environmental contractor, to perform the cleaning. Before work began, Algoma Steel Inc. reviewed the scope of work and associated hazards with the contractor, including the requirement that workers not enter the pipeline. Entry into the pipeline was not required to complete the work.

• Near the end of the work, one of the contracted workers was feeding a camera into the pipeline so another worker could take photographs of its interior. The worker subsequently entered the pipeline and was fatally injured due to a lack of oxygen.

• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that the worker was experienced and had received confined space awareness and other safety training. Neither Algoma Steel Inc. nor the contractor had authorized or expected workers to enter the pipeline.

• The investigation also found that the pipeline had not been secured against unauthorized entry and warning signs regarding unauthorized entry were not present.