Hamilton manufacturer National Steel Car charged over latest workplace death
National Steel Car faces five charges under Ontario health and safety law following an investigation into the workplace death of painter Collin Grayley - the second fatality at the railcar maker in less than a year.
Grayley, 35, died on the job at the Kenilworth Avenue North plant last April, just eight months after the death of crane operator Fraser Cowan. A separate probe of the 51-year-old Cowan's workplace death resulted in three charges against National Steel Car that remain before the courts.
The Spectator was unable to reach National Steel Car for comment Tuesday.
But through its lawyers, National Steel Car previously said it would vigorously defend" against charges laid last fall. It has also previously said the railcar maker has been and continues to be a safe workplace."
News of the latest charges was bittersweet" for Grayley's mother, Lynn Grayley. It's opening up all those wounds ... we're grieving all over again," she said Tuesday. But it's also very much a relief."
Lynn said she wants to know more about what happened to her son on April 23, but so far few details have been released.
Co-workers said they found the father-of-three slumped over near a scissor lift and a train car he was working on at the east bayfront manufacturing plant. Lynn previously said an investigating coroner told her Grayley suffered a crush injury."
Three of the newly laid charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act allege the company failed to take all reasonable precautions for the protection of a worker" related to a personnel lift.
That includes failing to maintain safe distances" between the lift and fixed objects, failing to protect the lift controls from inadvertent movement" and failing to eliminate a pinch point" created by the use of the lift in its location.
Two other charges relate to alleged failure to maintain emergency stop and safety release buttons in the personnel lift.
Lynn expressed hope the court process will result in improved worker safety.
The United Steel Workers union, which represents National Steel Car employees, called last year for a thorough review" of health and safety at the railcar manufacturer following Grayley's death. Two fatalities within eight months is cause for alarm," said director Marty Warren at the time.
The Spectator did not hear back from the union Tuesday about whether it is now satisfied with workplace safety measures.
The company has not agreed to any interviews with The Spectator since Grayley's death, but through its lawyers has strongly denied any suggestion that the plant was an unsafe workplace or that conditions there contributed to worker deaths.
It previously called the recent workplace deaths tragic, but not the result of an unsafe workplace."
Last year, National Steel Car sued the Spectator for its previous reporting on Grayley's death, alleging that the reporting was defamatory.
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com