Hamilton steel processing company fined $200K after death of worker hit by forklift

A Hamilton steel processing company has been fined $200,000 after a worker was hit by a forklift and died in 2022. 

Janco Steel Ltd. pleaded guilty in provincial offences court in April for failing to ensure a signaller was directing the forklift operator, who didn't have a full view of the area — a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, said a Ministry of Labour court bulletin released Thursday. 

Justice of the Peace Butany-Goyal ordered the company to pay the fine plus a 25 per cent victim surcharge on April 2, 2025.

Janco Steel director Rick Nordeman said in an email Friday that the company's culture is "rooted in safety." 

"The tragedy was devastating to the worker's family first and foremost, but also to his work family who cared for him deeply and continue to grieve his loss," Nordeman said. "We continue our relentless pursuit of safety through rigorous training and supervision." 

On the morning of April 26, 2022, the worker was at Janco Steel's Stoney Creek location, operating an overhead crane and offloading a large steel coil from a transport truck to a weight scale, the ministry said. 

Hamilton police previously said the worker was a 36-year-old man. 

"While performing the tasks and looking up at the load, the worker walked backwards into an interior driveway where a large industrial forklift was travelling," it said. 

The forklift operator, who was driving two to three kilometres per hour, didn't see the worker, the ministry said. Another worker yelled out, and the forklift operator immediately stopped. 

"But the forklift had already fatally struck" the worker operating the overhead crane, said the ministry.

First responders tried to resuscitate the worker, who had life-threatening injuries, but he died shortly after arriving at West Lincoln Hospital, Hamilton paramedics said in 2022. 

The incident could have been avoided if Janco Steel had ensured another worker was on the ground to direct the forklift, said the ministry. 

In 2018, the company was fined $150,000 after a steel coil crushed a worker, killing him in 2016.