Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. fined $500K after ruptured hose leaked more than 16,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into deli area

Left: The logo for Maple Lodge Farms is seen in this photograph (maplelodgefarms.ca). Right: An employee wearing a mask heads to work at the Maple Lodge Farms poultry processing plant during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brampton, Ont., on Friday, May 8, 2020 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette).

Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. has been hit with a $500,000 fine after a worker at its Brampton, Ont., plant was critically injured when they were exposed to more than 16,000 pounds of carbon dioxide back in 2024.

A court bulletin posted by the Ontario government on Thursday stated the incident happened at the Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. poultry processing and packaging facility located on Winston Churchill Boulevard.

On March 16, 2024, the employee was working in the facility’s deli area when a hose, connected to a vacuum blender containing carbon dioxide, ruptured. Carbon dioxide is used to cool certain products during process, the bulletin noted.

The rupture uncontrollably released around 16,072 pounds of carbon dioxide into the deli area and the worker was critically injured, according to the bulletin.

Following an investigation conducted by the province’s labour ministry, it was determined there was no carbon dioxide sensor and alarm system in place.

“This was a failure to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker,” the bulletin reads, adding that Maple Lodge Farms failed to comply with section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The facility installed a permanent carbon dioxide sensor following the incident.

Following a guilty plea heard in a Brampton court on Aug. 27, Maple Lodge Farms was slapped with a $500,000 fine. The court also added a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act, which is credited to a designated fund meant to assist victims of crime.