National Steel Car fined $360K for Hamilton worker’s death, another critically injured in 2022

National Steel Car has been ordered to pay over $360,000 in fines after the death of one worker and the critical injury of another — both in 2022.

The Hamilton-based company pleaded guilty in both cases for not upholding safe working conditions at its Kenilworth Avenue plant, said a court bulletin from the labour ministry published Wednesday. 

Welder Quoc Le, 51, died on June 6, 2022, after being crushed by a 2,000-pound panel. 

Leading up to Le’s death, workers were welding bulkhead panels to the floor of the railcar, said the bulletin. The panels were held by a set of chains attached to a crane.

One of those chain links “unexpectedly broke” causing the panel to tip and fall onto Le, the ministry said.

If National Steel Car had followed Ontario regulations, it would’ve required workers to secure the panel to diagonal alignment bars to prevent it from falling during welding, said the ministry.

However, this requirement was not in the company’s standard operating procedure, the ministry said.

National Steel Car was fined $240,000 for Le’s death and has since updated its policy. 

The union representing National Steel Car workers was disappointed the Crown did not push for a harsher penalty, but instead made a “deal” with National Steel Car, said Frank Crowder, local president of United Steel Workers Local 7135. 

“To large companies like these, such a small amount [in fines] becomes the cost of doing business,” said Crowder in a statement. “Corporations can’t be allowed to simply pay a fine whenever a worker is killed.”

3 deaths in less than 2 years

Le was among three workers killed at the plant over 21 months due to unsafe working conditions.

Collin Grayley died on April 23, 2021 and Fraser Cowan died on Sept. 2, 2020. National Steel Car was fined $140,000 for each of those deaths.

“When a worker is killed in the workplace, the deceased is not the only victim,” Crowder said. 

“There is a family that is devastated from losing a loved one, personal friends affected from the loss and coworkers still in shock years later. There is a psychological impact that can be crippling to everyone involved.” 

He said some workers didn’t return to National Steel Car after these deaths because of post-traumatic stress disorder and concerns about their own safety. 

National Steel Car was also fined $50,000 after a worker was critically injured in the days leading up to Le’s death. 

On June 3, 2022, a worker was using a crane with a magnet to move metal scraps, but one of the scraps fell, injuring the worker, the court bulletin said. The magnet was incorrectly labelled as being able to move a heavier load than it actually could. 

For both this case and Le’s death, National Steel Car is required to also pay $72,500 in victim fine surcharges. 

National Steel Car did not respond to a request for comment.

Hamilton police said last year they were still investigating Le’s death to see if criminal charges were warranted, but haven’t provided an update since.