A Drayton meat packing company has been fined $60,000 after one of its workers was critically hurt last year, when they were run over by a charging steer at its facility.
According to a release sent out by the province, the incident happened June 14, 2022, at Peel Meat Packers on 6th Line in Drayton.
"A worker was injured during the delivery of a steer to a holding barn," the province says, adding the company failed to ensure a protective gate separating humans from animals was properly maintained.
This is because a spring on a self-closing gate on the human side of an aisle was broken.
"When the farmer opened the back of their trailer, the steer came charging out," the province’s court bulletin says. "The farmer quickly stepped back into the livestock aisle, pulling the livestock gate closed, cutting off the steer’s access to the livestock aisle."
However, it goes on to say the animal had nowhere else to go, so it ran down the human aisle, "through the gate left open due to the broken latch."
"The worker was still standing in the human aisle and was critically injured by the charging steer," the province says.
On top of the fine, the company is also required to pay out a 25 per cent victim surcharge.
