In the News June 13

Death of a Worker at Hamilton Plant

Three Deaths in Less Than Two Years

The death of welder Quoc Le is the third in less than two years at National Steel Car in Hamilton.

National Steel Car is the largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock in Canada, producing rail cars for major railways in Canada and the United States including Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Ontario Northland, and BNSF.

The company has a brutal history of workplace injuries and deaths.

Charges against National Steel Car under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act have been laid in the deaths of crane operator Fraser Cowan on September 2, 2020 and Collin Grayley on April 23, 2021. These cases remain before the courts.

The company has been found guilty in the past as well with regard to unsafe working conditions.

On October 17, 2008 the company was fined a total of $250,000 related to the death of one worker in 2004 and serious injury to another in 2006, for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The company was fined $140,000 after a worker was permanently injured at work on December 19, 2011. In that case a Ministry of Labour investigation found that the injured worker and the worker he was working with had not received training on the press they were operating or been made aware of safety procedures for operating the press.

(Photo: Workers’ Forum)

Workers’ Forum, posted June 13, 2022.